


Future of our Past

by jaeministie



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Multi, Na Jaemin-centric, multiple mentions of death and violence so don't read if you're not comfortable!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-07-23 07:09:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 42,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16154126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaeministie/pseuds/jaeministie
Summary: After tragically dying at the age of 18, Jaemin wakes up in an isolated facility, capable of hearing anyone’s thoughts, and extremely enamoured with a raven-haired male able to move objects around.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> so this is my first fic !!! i've been wanting to publish it for so long but i've been too scared to do so :( guess today is the day!!!
> 
> this is somehow lightly inspired by EXO's superpower concept (some member's powers might remind you of EXO's !), i'm not really a specialist of super powers so forgive any inaccuracies!! 
> 
> lastly, english is not my mother tongue so i apologize for any grammar/syntax mistakes ><
> 
> this fic will be around ~40k words so it'll be a wild, long ride!  
> enjoy!!!

 

_The world we live in today is on the verge of war, and tensions rise every day. The NSF discovered a strange force that results in the death and the awakening of multiple human being with supernatural powers; they decide to train these beings to fight for the country in the conflicts to come._

_The project is a State Secret._

 

**Part 1**

 

The memories were flooding like water in an agitated river in Jaemin’s mind. Picture, sounds, voice, smells and blows were invading his dull mind, and he realized that they were here to stay. 

These kinds of situations had always seemed so unreal; he had seen many scenes of gang violence in movies and watched them with a bored eye.” _Unrealistic_ ” he had always thought. People randomly insulted by a group of threatening guys when getting out of a drunken party don’t exist. People beaten to death on empty park lots cannot be real, because anyone with common sense would run for their lives, scream and cry for help. People shouldn’t go out on a Saturday night, drink until getting tipsy and walk home alone, it was ridiculously reckless. Jaemin had always snickered at the poor choices of those movie characters, finding dozens of reasons why they could have made it alive without any bruises. 

Well, any sort of god up there might had heard his snickering and had decided to challenge the brunette. What a tragic irony. 

Jaemin had lived a very boring life up to there. Living with his single mother, going to school, being an average student and having average friends. His death had been the most outstanding event of his life, as ironic as it might seem.

Nothing had predestined him to his second life.

______

“ _Second Life_ ”.

The association of these two words had been one of the most complex Jaemin had even laid his eyes upon when he was given a manual by the staff. It was an oxymoron if he remembered clearly his English classes; there was only one life, and the unique character of it gave it its value. 

So why did Jaemin wake up, after the final blow on his head he received on that tragic night?

He had woken up in a futuristic, immaculate bedroom with a strong smell of chemicals. He had wondered if it had been Heaven, Hell, or whatever religion promoted as the ‘afterlife’, only to realize everything seemed strange but …. human. 

A woman, also very human-looking, had entered, not baring him any glance. She gave Jaemin the infamous ‘manual’, leaving without a word after that. The brunette boy had tried to get out of bed to run after her, ask her where he was and what for, not giving any attention to the heavy book on his side. However, he then realized he had two syringes filled up with some white substance in both his wrists, making it impossible for him to get up without tearing them.

As the notion of suffering was unbearable for him now, he decided to keep quiet, not keen on savagely removing the intravenous. Jaemin remained quietly in his ‘bed’, brown eyes wide open. Why wasn’t he dead? Why could he feel his heart beating, hot blood rushing in his veins and flush on his cheeks? Dozens of questions entered his mind as he tried to fight the reminiscing images of that night when he died. Did anyone look for him? Did his mom cry? Did his assassins get arrested? 

Tears began to form on the corner of Jaemin’s eyelashes but he fought them. Whoever put him there had its reason, but the brunette found himself shivering at those various reasons that could have led him here. 

Jaemin eventually reached for the book the woman had handed him, only to be greeted with the” Second Life” title which occupied his mind for long minutes. 

He then decided to open the book, guessing he had nothing to lose now. So he read titles of chapters, including 'handling your new powers', 'basic needs now', 'practice schedule' and the first one he read, 'introducing the second life'. Everything was neat, clear, organized and it made Jaemin realize it might not have been made at random but by specific people for specific reasons. 

However, the words used…. Powers? Second Life? Practice? It was all a blur to the brunette, as curiosity made him flip the pages one by one, gulping down their content with an undisclosed stupor and surprise. 

It took him two hours to read the book, and four more to understand its content and more importantly, its concrete meaning. 

If the book of the ‘second life’ was true to its words, he had effectively died but came back to life for a specific reason. Apparently, he was now gifted with powers to fulfil some sort of great cause; he also needed to train them to reach new levels of powers and new capacities coming with them. 

Jaemin was torn between the need to laugh and cry, as it all seemed really absurd. Coming back to life after death with powers? It seemed like the person who wrote this book was a mix of a Marvel and Twilight lover. This fact made him sadly chuckle to himself. But had he any other choice than to believe this book?

He laid back in bed, realizing he was wearing white ‘pyjamas’. Could he still have bruises from that tragic night? Jaemin raised the white top, nudging his flat stomach without any discolouration on it. His arms were intact and he did not feel any pain or soreness in his limbs. 

The thought that the entire beating up and murdering memories could have only been the fruit of his imagination passed his mind, but the book clearly expressed he had died, so he resorted in trusting it. 

He eventually fell asleep because of overthinking his situation. 

________

The woman who gave him the book came back many more times to check on him and Jaemin lost the notion of time. How many days, weeks, months had he passed in that room, thinking, overthinking even and sleeping? He was not fed any food, but maybe his second life allowed him to escape the needs of mere mortals. He could also have been fed through the syringes in his veins; this appeared as the most rational reason. 

He had eventually accepted his situation and understood what the second life meant. But no specific powers had appeared to him, and he wondered if he actually was a failure to this supernatural event. It could explain why nobody talked to him as well as his seclusion in that futuristic hospital-like room. 

And one day, two people came. Another woman, younger looking with caramel like hair and feminine curves with a man looking like a doctor, in his fifties entered his room. They looked very human to Jaemin’s eyes.  

“Good morning Jaemin. I am doctor Stevenson and this is my assistant Karolina,” were the first words anyone had given him since he had woken up. He glared at the two persons in front of him with big eyes.” I guess you have read the book we have given you and acknowledged its meaning?” the doctor added and Jaemin nodded, relieved it was not all of a joke.” Good. Do you have any questions about it?”

Jaemin looked at the man with astonishment. He had so many questions, but nothing seemed to come out of his mouth. Had he lost any capacity to talk? He eventually managed to mutter some words.  

“Is… Is all of this real?”

Karolina smiled at him and the doctor chuckled a bit, before patting Jaemin’s shoulder with a compassionate smile. 

“Yes, all of this is very real. You are now in one of the secret bases of the NSF in Alaska, and we are more than a thousand people working here on this project,” he explained and his words made everything in Jaemin’s mind more real and clearer. Something told him he shouldn’t trust that man, but he chose to as a result of a lack of human contact.

He was gulping down all the information and didn't notice the doctor was checking on the monitor in the room while her assistant was taking notes. They seemed satisfied and came back to Jaemin’s side after some time. 

“If you’re ok with it, we can bring you outside of this room tomorrow. We will do some more check-ups, and answer any other question that comes to your mind. Is it fine?” the doctor asked, and Jaemin nodded once more. The two persons had reassuring smiles and it made Jaemin feel reassured. They left and he sighed, wondering in what mess he was in and what was waiting for him. 

They came back the day after as they promised to take a fully clothed Jaemin -he had been given a white sweater, some jeans and sneakers the day before- to another place. There were three other persons with the two first ones, looking very dull and bland. They looked like military men, and Jaemin guessed they were here to make sure he didn't try to escape the place. 

Jaemin’s eyes witnessed so many things after being secluded to his bedroom for so much time. He was being taken from corridors to corridors, all looking futuristic and immaculate. He actually wondered how his two guides could know where they are going, as they passed a huge hall with a majestic and glass made dome which showed they actually were underground for the moment. Moreover, the entire building seemed gigantic and modern. He eyed people walking, some casually and some with a fast pace; he definitely was not alone here and he wondered if those people had also died, just like he did before arriving here. 

Eventually, they made it to another room and the doctor flashed what seemed to be a card in order to open the door and rush him, his assistant and Jaemin inside. The room looked like a doctor’s office, and Jaemin was told they were going to proceed to his medical examination.

They drew what felt like a litre of blood from his veins, measured and weighed him and made him run on a treadmill for a couple of minutes before they made him enter a strange machine to measure his heartbeat and organs functioning. He then waited on a seat for an hour, before the doctor eventually sat in front of him. 

“Your results are really good. You are slightly underweight for your height and have some vitamin deficiency but that’s nothing life treating and can be cured with an increase in food intake and vitamins. Your cardiac results are excellent and you show no sign of weakness or damage. We are satisfied,” he explained with a bright smile and oddly it made Jaemin feel as if he had performed well. The doctor seemed to notice.” Did you notice anything special, that’s … never happened to you?” the doctor asked. 

“Do you mean, if I’ve noticed any superpowers in me?” Jaemin asked blatantly and the doctor seemed surprised.” If that’s it, I haven’t noticed anything out of common.”

“Yes, indeed. It’s a good thing if you take the news so nicely, though. If you witness something weird, please do tell us. As soon as you gain your power gift, we will be able to move you with the others.”

“The others?” Jaemin had seen some people on the way but he still didn’t know if they were working here, or people like him. However, the realization he was not alone made him want to gain his power as soon as possible so that he could meet them. 

“We have a hundred powerful beings, but differentiated into various purposes. You shall be placed into one of the units after your power appears,” the doctor explained before Jaemin was brought back to his room. 

Everything was so special and different, but living something he didn’t even think possible to exist made him forget the tragic circumstances his arrival. 

______

The first time Jaemin’s power manifested itself, the young male didn't even realize it at first. It had been yet another day in the very same bedroom he was kept in since he woke up and Karolina had come with a nurse to come and draw blood from like they did every week -at least, that’s what Jaemin had guessed. He had completely lost any notion of time-. 

The blood drawing was done, and Karolina did some basic talk with him. That day, she told him he had been here for more than three months and it had surprised Jaemin a lot. He had felt like being here for a month at most but as his room was underground, he couldn’t see the sunlight. He had only relied on the variation of the only light in his room that faked a ‘day’ and a ‘night’.

“You might stay here a lot more if your power doesn’t show up,” he heard Karolina say and the thought of being stuck here annoyed the brunette. 

“But there’s nothing I can do to make it appear faster and I’m tired of waiting,” Jaemin whined for the first time, and he saw Karolina glaring at him with frowned eyebrows. Oh, he had fucked up with this comment. He could see the way the woman’s eyes was nudging him. It was no good at all. 

“What? I didn’t say anything,” Karolina said, and Jaemin looked at her with confusion. 

“You did! You said ‘You might stay here a lot more if your power doesn’t show up’ a second ago,” Jaemin told her, fearing he might have gone crazy being kept underground for so long. 

“No, I didn’t say it,” Karolina looked at a very confused, “I thought it,” she added, and a second after, the realization came to her.” Don’t move, I’m coming back in a second!” she almost shouted and ran out of Jaemin’s room, leaving the brunette astonished.

What had just happened? He was sure Karolina had said what he had heard, but she assured she did not. He was going crazy, and the thought left him feeling empty. Maybe he would be trashed out of the place, or even killed a second time because he did not fulfil the project of the NSF. You didn't joke around with these guys. 

He sat on his bead, playing his hands. Something was going to happen to him, he could feel it but there was nothing he could do about it. 

Jaemin suddenly heard a lot of voices, all saying ‘we must get him’ entering the room 629” and such. The voices were loud and it felt like a hundred people were already in the room when actually, only 5 military men and Karolina entered. They didn't look pleased and had a solemn look on their faces.

The brunette got up and ran to hide in the corner of his room, trying not to be taken away by the men but failing miserably. They lift him easily, and he could hear them saying out loud everything they were doing, like ‘I lift him up’ ‘I’ll get him outside’. It was extremely weird and very unnatural. 

“Let me go! Don’t touch me!” Jaemin screamed and it was not worth it since his hands were held tight and the guards were lifting him out of his room. He screamed some more in the empty corridors and heard someone say ‘where is the syringe again?’ before he fell unconscious. 

His power had risen. 

 

_______

 

His new room was not exactly fitting his 18 years old self's tastes, but the excitement of finally moving in made him forget it all. Jaemin learned that if he had been kept underground for months, the home of beings who had powers was on the upper ground. He realized they really were in the middle of nature, with the green of the forest and the blue of the lake in front of the NSF building blinding him when he reached the ground floor. Everything was so gigantic he couldn’t remember a tenth of the way he had passed to go to his new room, but he had followed diligently. 

His power had risen. They had taken him to see some different doctors who used a very strange machine that made tiny waves when Jaemin heard them talk the same unnatural nonsense. 

The diagnostic didn't wait. His power was telepathy. Mind reading. People around him were not talking. They were thinking. 

The realization of it all had been exciting but hard to live because everyone was looking at him with serious expressions. What kind of danger could he represent with his power? The stress of the entire project being a joke was fully erased now because Jaemin had realized powers indeed existed. Now, his only prerogative was not to get killed because he could hear some State secret being said by staffs. Jaemin could hear they were confused on what to do, what to think and what to not. 

It was however strangely pleasing.

He had not been told a lot about all the new situation, only that he was upgrading and that he was changing rooms. They also gave him a sheet with rules that he read thoroughly. 

_ Rules: _

_These rules are to be taken into account in all times. One who does not respect them will be put in a cell for a given time according to his fault._

  1. _You are allowed out of your room from 9 am to 8 pm. Anyone out of their room outside of this schedule will be punished._
  2. _The park and the lake are open only from 10 am to 4 pm._
  3. _You are not allowed to swim in the lake_
  4. _No fighting whereas it’s physical or mental is allowed. It will result in the jailing of the two fighters._
  5. _You are not allowed to use your powers in your room or on your own until you reach Master stage. We have detectors which can sense the magic intent._
  6. _No one is allowed in rooms except you from 9 pm to 7 am. Any intruder will be punished._
  7. _The kitchen is open to everyone but a cook is present are your disposition at all time within the schedule and to order in your room outside of it._
  8. _The swimming pool, training room and library are opened every day at the same time than the schedule._



Jaemin read them, and the feeling he got was that these rules could belong to some detoxification centre and not an NSF project. It was a mix of a nursery and a five-star hotel. He still couldn’t wait to get out of his room. 

The brunette looked out the window only to be faced by the stars, the forest and the moon’s reflection on the lake. He had a good view of the side of that lake and nature surrounding the NSF building, a view pleasing to his eyes. 

His room was not big but not small either and had various shades of brown. The bed was large enough for two people and there was a shelf, a desk, a dressing room and a medium sized bathroom with a shower. Jaemin took what looked like a pyjama top and shorts before heading to brush his teeth, a first in a while. He was faced with a mirror that showed him his reflection, as he took the opportunity to observe himself.

He had not changed a lot; his brown hair slightly grew, making his bangs look full now, his skin was paler than he remembered and he had lost a bit of weight. His lips looked dry and eye bags circled his large brown eyes, but in general, his appearance was the same and he did not look like a living dead at all. 

Nobody could guess he died a couple of months ago. Not even himself. 

He woke up naturally the next morning, and the excitement of being able to get out made him dress in a hurry. It was 9:30 am when he got out, and when he did, he was faced with the huge corridor he had passed when getting in his room. It was all made of brown, grey colours and seemed to never end. Jaemin tried to follow the way he had entered, remembering he saw a kitchen there, but eventually managed to get lost in all the corridors. How many people were there? Judging from all the rooms he passed, they might have been at least than fifty different rooms. 

“Are you lost?” a rough voice asked, and Jaemin turned to that person with stupor. He might have been too concentrated on not getting lost that he didn't hear the person's thoughts. 

He was faced with a skinny, average size male, in his twenties, with a cold expression on his face. He was dressed stylishly, his hair was bright red and there was a model vibe emanating from him. 

“I’m looking for the kitchen,” Jaemin tried to appear confident. He heard the male laugh at him in his thoughts.” Don’t mock me! I’m new here.” The male looked surprised.

“You can read my mind?” he asked, astonished.

“I can. And right now you’re panicking because you are afraid you might not control your thoughts and think about nasty stuff that I can hear,” Jaemin explained, and making the male in front of him raised an eyebrow. 

“That’s a cool power,” he admitted, trying not to appear surprised.” But you might now be able to use it on me as much as you want,” he said, and suddenly Jaemin couldn't hear anything from him. It was relaxing in a way; Jaemin’s mind was so much more peaceful right now, as he did not feel like his head was hurting anymore. It was still making him stress because he was getting used to hearing the numerous voices around him. 

“How did you do this?” he candidly asked.

“My power is to stop other powers,” he explained.” I’m Taeyong by the way,” he introduced himself. 

“My name is Jaemin, nice to meet you,” he told him with a smile, and Taeyong offered to guide him to the kitchen.” How many of us are there here?” he decided to make some light conversation while they were headed for breakfast. 

“In this unit, including you, there’s only three of us. But in other units, they are more than a hundred. This unit has opened last year only so that’s why there is so little of us,” he explained, and Jaemin was shocked. He thought there would be many of them, but it seemed like he was wrong. He remembered the large corridors he had just passed, understand their unit’s facility could welcome dozens and dozens of new beings. 

They talked a bit more, and eventually reached the kitchen where the cook was finishing preparing what seemed to be pancakes. Someone new was sitting on the bar chair, already eating. 

“That’s Ten. He was the second one to arrive, four months after me and his power is time control. But don’t ask him to show you, he’s a mess at this,” Taeyong joked, pointing to an equally skinny male with feline eyes, shiny black hair and a very charismatic aura; his smile was to die for. Jaemin realized both of his new ‘friends’ were gorgeous and wondered if it was their powers that made them look like this or if they originally looked that good.

“Oh, we have someone new! Finally, I was starting to be fed up with your ass Taeyong,” Ten screamed with joy, getting up and walking towards Jaemin. “Oh my god you’re so cute !” he nearly shouted, as he hugged Jaemin out of nowhere. Feeling human contacts appeared as a delight to Jaemin’s deprived self. The brunette’s nature included being very social, and he already loved Ten. As he read his thoughts, he felt equally genuinely nice feelings towards him. 

“I’m Jaemin,” he gave Ten a big smile when he was released from his embrace.” Taeyong told me about you,” he added. 

“Damnit… Don’t listen to him, he’s an old douche,” Ten explained, taking Jaemin’s arm and leading him to a seat next to him. “So, tell me more about you. I want to know EVERYTHING!”

Jaemin loved how Ten was enthusiastic and very talkative. He also appreciated Taeyong’s calmness and random speaking. He felt protected and appreciated by the two males with whom he couldn’t wait to chat more. 

After all, things weren’t as terrible as he had expected them to be.

Some days passed, and Jaemin discovered many things. Ten was still very clingy to him and he asked him a lot of personal things as well as introduced him to most of the things he needed to know in their unit. 

Ten indeed had the power to control time, and he showed Jaemin once, breaking a ceramic vase in front of him and then going back in time to make it whole again. Jaemin was fascinated and he did not hide it. When the brunette told Ten about his power, he was impressed. He said something like” how can such a cute person hold such a strong power!” and it made Jaemin laugh. He liked Ten a lot, he made him feel… like the friends of his past life did. Human. Whole. 

Taeyong was indeed a cold man, spending most of his days by the lake reading some classics and strolling in the parks. But Jaemin liked him also because he told him most of the things he needed to know about the place here. 

Jaemin discovered a lot of things were not like they were supposed to be. Taeyong talked to him through his mind, because he didn't want the staff to hear what he had to tell Jaemin since there were cameras and microphones almost everywhere, recording their every conversation. Karolina had told Jaemin that he must not try to leave this place because it was the only thing that made him alive. If he left, he’d die and this for real. Taeyong told him it was a lie, and that they really were alive whenever they went. But the whole place was protected by guards and it was impossible for them to fight the cameras. Taeyong also told him that eventually if you were nice enough with the staff and showed progress, you would be able to bend the rules a little. 

Everything was a question of smiling enough. Jaemin wondered if Taeyong did as he seemed so cold. 

The brunette spent most his days chatting with Ten, sitting next to Taeyong next to the lake listening to his mental advises and eating like there was no tomorrow. He was so hungry he might have eating thousands of calories per day to the joy of the cook who knew his taste by heart. 

Eventually, the time to practice came. He was guided to a white room in the underground of the building where a new female sat in front of a standing Jaemin. He knew there were other people in the room because he heard their thoughts and he guessed there might be a small room next to the one where he was, a sort of a monitoring room to check what Jaemin did.

For this first time, the lady -Dr. Lana Wisley- told him to show what he could do. He read her thoughts and the ones of the four people in the monitoring room. The brunette could definitely hear that people were impressed with his gift, and he felt pleased with himself. 

But the second time didn’t go as smooth as the first. The woman ordered him to do things he couldn’t do at all, as in to change what she thought or make her do something only using telepathy. Jaemin could see where she was coming with this, wanting him to improve, but he just couldn't do it. He could only read her thoughts. Every time he failed at doing what she ordered him, he received a sort of electric shock without anyone touching him. 

Dr Lana told him that using their technique to detect his power, they could send him electric shocks. 

Days became an exhausting mixture of training, chatting with Ten and Taeyong and being electrocuted because of his power failure. It was completely against any human right, but was he even still human? There was no way he could complain. He just had to endure everything until his stupid power finally decided to upgrade. 

The brunette eventually got to do something else than just reading minds the day when a fourth member appeared. Jaemin managed to talk to Dr Lana only with his mind; he heard what she said and she heard what he told her. She was satisfied with him and he did not get shocked this time.

He met Mark that day. He was their fourth member, and was a perfect combination of Ten and Taeyong, as he had his goofy moments followed by solitary needs. He was a tall, brown-haired male with sharp cheekbones and a nice smile. 

Jaemin learned he could control fire and he envied Mark’s mastering of his power when he showed them what he could do with it. Being new, the new member could do more than Jaemin in 5 months of training since he came. 

Mark was, at first, more or less indifferent to Jaemin and had seemed to avoid him since he was smart and understood that the brunette could read his thoughts and denounce him to the staff is any bad idea came to his mind. Fortunately, Jaemin was a nice person with principles and as tempting as it was, he promised himself never to use his gift against his own kind unless it was a matter of life and death. 

In the long run, they became friends, chatting whenever they encountered each other in the vast building and commenting random movies on the living room’s television on starry nights. 

One evening, they had all been in the kitchen eating dinner when Mark evoked how he died. He had been trapped in his 5th-floor apartment when it exploded because of someone leaving the gas open as well as the oven. It was a horrible way to die but he talked about it with such indifference Jaemin had been once more envious of him. And then everyone followed with their own death experience; it wasn’t the most joyful subject but it linked the four males like never before. They all respected one another from this point. 

After that, time passed so fast Jaemin lost once more its notion. 

Little by little, he saw seasons changing, the green of the trees become more orange, then covered by snow and then being a kaleidoscope of green, pink, red and purple due to the flowers in bloom. Months passed and step-by-step, their unit became more populated. 

The fifth member was Jaehyun; he was a tall male with pale skin male and very beautiful eyes. He possessed the power of teleportation and apparently liked a lot to invade other people’s rooms at night to scare them. He never did this to Jaemin but appeared once or twice without notice in random places. However, Jaehyun was fascinated with Jaemin’s power so they eventually spent hours practising together, trying not to get caught. It was easy for Jaemin because of his constantly active power. Jaemin liked Jaehyun a lot because he had a very carefree, charming nature that made everything seem like a joke, less solemn. It was relaxing to his mind. 

Jungwoo was the sixth member, and Jaemin knew at the first sight he would be a sort of soft, relaxing figure to the group. As soon as he arrived, he spread an aura of compassion and kindness that made him respected by most. Jungwoo was a male with light brown hair and the most charming smile Jaemin had always seen; he was extremely tall but radiated softness. Jaemin didn’t get to interact with him a lot because Jungwoo was a lot with the NSF staff but the little he had talked with him, he was a genuinely nice and caring person who made the brunette feel appeased. He had the power of controlling water and one day, he had managed to create them a little fountain in the front yard or them to enjoy. It was a small thing and an easy trick, but it stayed there for a long time. 

Then came Haechan, and his arrival had been far from being silent. Haechan was the loudest member of them all, and even without using his mind reading power, Jaemin could know what was right or wrong with him day by day. He was a tall, just legal male with messy orange brownish hair, sparkling eyes and the most beautiful sunkissed skin Jaemin had ever seen. Haechan had been gifted with the power of light; his trick of removing one's eyesight was one of the most astonishing things Jaemin had ever experienced. They got along very well because of their social butterflies nature complementing each other. The two of them generally brought Jaehyun or Ten along whenever they went out to the lake or to the swimming pool. It was almost as if they were college friends.  _Almost_. 

At some point, Jaemin lost track of the arrivals in the unit. He remembered f that they were a good dozen now but wasn’t very gifted with remembering faces and names, but it had become complicated for him to get along with everyone while maintaining a proper training schedule as well as sleep. Memorable members in the brunette’s mind would include the youngest male, Jisung, who could control storms and create one for a couple of minutes, as well as Johnny, a tall enthusiastic male whose power focused on nature and trees. He had created a weeping willow right next to the fountain Jungwoo had made appear. Jaemin knew there were a dozen more members.

One day, a couple of months after Haechan’s arrival, Jaemin, Mark and him had seen none other than Sicheng, one new member of their unit and Karolina, their staff member hand in hand, walking together. They had kissed and hugged and it left the three males in shock. How was that possible? They thought any kind of relationships had been forbidden? Haechan attempted dirty jokes about it whereas Mark complained all day about that ‘unfairness’. 

But the situation didn't go unnoticed by the other males. And the next day, all of them had been convoked in the arena of the centre, and they had been told that effectively Mark and Karolina were dating but that was exceptional, and that for a sole reason. They were soulmates. 

Jaemin read about this one day he had been bored and went to the library to read more about their new life; there was a book about ‘human relations’ he had read for a couple of hours, and this is where he learned about that exceptional feature of their second life. The principle of soulmates was a more extreme, passionate and irreversible version of love at the first sight. It was something which concerned people reborn with powers but which they couldn't control; some of them fell deeply in love for another human being and felt the urge to protect them, always be with them and bring them joy. Having a soulmate helped the growth of their powers and even maximized them to levels one could not dream of achieving. However, contrary to what he had learned from popular culture, not everyone had a soulmate or would meet them during their lifetime; it only made the phenomena scarcer. 

And Jaemin had felt Sicheng had a special link with Karolina when he read his thoughts when he was with her; his reserved, shy self was replaced by a loving, worrying and passionate version. Jaemin could feel the strength of the infinite love he had for her. Karolina seemed to love him as well, of course never as strong as her boyfriend would ever love her. But the NSF only allowed them some time once a week, during four hours, Other than this, they weren’t allowed to talk, kiss, meet or touch as Karolina worked in the new unit she had been transferred in and Sicheng trained.

The whole concept of soulmates left the members of the unit in awe, deeply wishing that they could belong to the few who would experience it. 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and here we go for part two! Jeno finally appears and softness ensue ~
> 
> also, I haven't explained that the power ranks, which all have aureolas of colours go this way :  
> Basic (black) <<< Advanced (dark grey) <<< Master (light grey) <<< Ultimate (silver) <<< Absolute (white)  
> it's not something capital to understand the story but this can make it easier to understand!
> 
> moreover, they are also able to see auras which illustrate one's feelings at a certain moment; here is a little chart as well!  
> Dark red: anger; Orange: courage; Orange-yellow: worry; Yellow: curiosity; Yellow-green: communicativeness; Green: balance; Dark green: jealousy; Blue: calm; Dark blue: triggering event; Indigo: stress; Silver: love; Bright pink: affection; Dark pink: dishonest; Gold: enlightenment 
> 
> enjoy :D

**Part 2**

Jaemin could feel his power grow as seasons and months went on; he went from being able to read one’s mind to the capacity of mind manipulation. The brunette could limit one’s movements, initiate thoughts, induce pain with his mind, read minds in other languages and much more. The more he trained, the more the instructors were lenient with him. He even got to a stage where he discovered a new use of his power once a day. Of course, this came with faults as Jaehyun, Mark and Jungwoo started avoided him because of their fear of Jaemin entering their minds and manipulating it. But Jaemin promised himself never to use his power for bad on them.

One day, things escalated.

A couple of days after reaching the Master stage - which Mark and Jungwoo already had reached- he was walking in the gardens alone, for once. He just had learned about the aura and aureola principles. Auras were patterns of colour surrounding one individual and representing their actual state of mind whereas aureolas represented their cultivation level. He was now light grey and the most glorious stage was the Absolute stage, which the staff didn't believe anyone could reach here. Only two out of all the beings they trained in the centre of two hundred and forty-five had reached that stage in ten years. Jaemin’s goal was the Ultimate stage which was the best he could wish for. It was only one stage far from his actual Master stage but it was getting harder from there; he needed to be able to erase one’s memory entirely or manage one’s subconscious easily if he wanted to reach goal stage.

Jaemin was walking quietly, and he could hear Mark was near because of his thoughts. But because of his new capacities, he actually managed to make everyone else’s thoughts less loud. He could still hear the male but could choose to ignore him and therefore his thoughts were not as present as before. It was calmer but there was never a moment Jaemin could find some silence in his head unless it was during sleep.

The weather was getting a bit less cold, the winter slowly leaving to the welcome spring, and Jaemin was wandering around with his heavy padded blue jacket on, snowflakes eventually covering his sneakers.

The brunette was thinking about the way his life had changed in almost two years, how he felt now almost at home in this centre and how most people were like family now. He had powers. He could make the staff beg on their knees if he wanted.

Suddenly, his sight went blurry and he felt his head turn. He was not in the garden’s anymore but in a street in an unknown country, hearing screams and seeing people covered in blood crying and running. He felt like he was involved in the scene, and eventually, he felt danger was approaching. Out of nowhere, a building exploded and multiple cars also blew up, creating panic in the busy, crowded streets. Horror was marking Jaemin’s face when he regained consciousness of his surroundings.

There was going to be an attack somewhere in the world. He knew it. There was no error.

Jaemin became erratic. He ran as fast as he could to get someone’s attention, to tell someone what as going to happen in order to prevent the massacre. The NSF was powerful, there probably was a way for them to do something. It was not too late.

He ran and ran and ran until he reached a guard who was making his usual round tour of the building, and Jaemin almost jumped on him with a non-comprehensive speech and erratic movements. He didn't see the guard calling staff to come, because Jaemin was too busy screaming at him "Help! There’ll be an attack! Get help!". The military man tried to stabilize him, grabbing his wrists solidly.

"Leave me alone! There is an emergency! HELP!" Jaemin was now panicking, screaming and bringing attention to him. He couldn't even feel himself being complete possessed by his obsession with the attack. He couldn't function properly, too hypnotized by the vision he had had.

"Jaemin, what is happening? Stop this, you’ll get jailed if you don’t stop!" Haechan came to his help, but Jaemin couldn't stop. He grabbed Haechan’s arms tightly as if scared of falling down.

"Haechan, there's going to be an attack somewhere! A city! Get help! It can’t happen!" and Haechan was worried by the paleness of Jaemin and his huge terrified eyes. Jaemin was often positive and hyperactive, but the male had never seen him in such state. As much as he wanted to believe Jaemin, he looked too hysteric for it to be true.

"Jaemin, calm down, they’re coming ! You don't want them to get you in the basement again!" Haechan screamed when he saw the staff coming, roughly ten of them. It was bad.

Jaemin wasn’t hearing him and kept screaming incomprehensible words, but managed to give the same speech to the staff who didn't listen to him and grabbed his wrists and ankles to bring him in the underground.

"LET ME GO! THERE’S AN EMERGENCY! LET ME GO!" he screamed, and he was really hysteric right now. But it didn't stop the military men and doctors from holding him forcefully and injecting a sedative in his veins.

Jaemin just had developed his prophecy power.

______

 

If Jaemin had been bored of his old schedule, the new one was even more boring.

After the incident, he had been jailed as indicated by Haechan for a couple of days; listening to the staff minds, he figured out they had been panicking because of his new ‘gift’. He could read the future. At least, he could see some event that will for sure happen, without control of those visions whatsoever. The attack happened the day after Jaemin’s panicking, and then he saw a dozen other things, crucial or not that happened exactly as he saw them.

The staff, therefore, decided a drastic measure; they had to control what Jaemin saw. They didn't leave him a word to say in his new schedule; he now had to spend half of his week in a small, futuristic, immaculate room in the underground, with transparent windows so that the staff could see him at all times. They would put a needle in his wrist vein, eager to test on the brunette and eventually isolate whatever prophecy gene he had developed. The rest of the week, he could train and chat with his old friends like before.

Haechan had been afraid of Jaemin after that and became a bit more distant. He couldn't explain exactly what he felt but the feeling of being next to Jaemin made him want to run from the tall brunette. He has been an asshole with Jaemin who needed friends now that everyone was so afraid of him, staff included, but he turned his back on him. Only Mark remained to his side, but he was busy with his training too; so Jaemin ended up alone most of the times.

He liked to pretend it did not matter for him, that his enthusiastic nature didn’t care but he couldn't lie to himself -his aura was indigo most of the time-; he was sad and terribly in need of chatting with people. He needed someone by his side to help him deal with the amount of power he felt having in his veins. Was he a monster? Was he harmful, dangerous? He didn't feel so, but monsters never realized they truly were monsters until it was too late.

He realized he better get used to being alone, because the more the days passed, the lonelier he felt.

_______

 

Until the day he saw him.

The last month had been extremely tiring.

Jaemin didn't know what the staff wanted from him. He spent most of his time in his underground room being bored, either sleeping or reading. The brunette realized that they were slowly draining his energy during the days when he was there; he knew they didn't feed him when he was there because there was a needle in the wrist for that -apparently-. However, he felt like they were drawing his energy from the new bracelet they put on his right wrist now. Were they afraid he’d gain too much power otherwise? It was getting more difficult for Jaemin to read their minds because the new staffs knew well how to focus on one and sole irrelevant thing when they came to meet him in the room.

When he finally was allowed back on the ground, Jaemin always felt dizzy and weak. He wasn’t even expected to practice anymore as he guessed the staff focused on others now. Ten wasn’t progressing a lot and Jaemin could see it from how large his eye bags grew day by day. Haechan was jealous of Sicheng whose soulmate gene made him the most powerful for them all for the moment, his frequent dark green aura showing it.

Released from the underground, Jaemin went to his room which hadn't changed a lot in two years except the few objects he exchanged with Haechan. They were only allowed once a month to chose from a selected collection of clothes and room decoration five things that would be delivered to them. It was not a lot but when the packages came it always was a pleasurable moment. The NSF already provided them with a wardrobe personalized for each of them and anything they needed room wise, so they were not in right to complain. Jaemin liked his ‘upper’ room because the other one had nothing if not books he read and re-read and some basic white appliance.

He realized his stomach was shouting for food and went downstairs to be greeted with Sicheng feeding Karolina. ‘Ah, it’s their weekly rendezvous’, he guessed. They turned to him when he entered.

"No need to stop, I just come to grab something, I’ll leave right after," he told them with a smile, before receiving a nod from Sicheng. He was not the nicest here but he at least acknowledged Jaemin, who couldn’t read any angry feelings towards him. The brunette grabbed some freshly made sandwich, smiling because he knew the cook made them for him -he could see how hard whatever treatment the skinny brunette received was- and went to the gardens.

He then saw Ten and Haechan fooling around, and his heart clenched a bit because he wanted so bad to be happy with them but they all were scared of him and maybe had goods reasons to be. He didn't even know if he could control his invasive power.

Jaemin found a spot in the forest, under the small fence a hundred meters away from the building. This fence looked old, antique and contrasted with the futuristic glass reflecting under the sun of the building of the NSF.

He sat under it, eating the sandwich and feeling his heart was empty. Sicheng had Karolina; he wished he had someone who loved him as they both did with one another. But this was reaching too far; he’d accept with any kind of human interactions at this point. He felt like being secluded and rejected was the worst event a human being could feel but was he still a human being? He could predict life and death, torture people with his mind and still he wondered why people were scared of him. He was truly a dumb idiot.

Suddenly, he heard noises of footsteps coming, but, strangely, no thoughts were coming with them. It was weird because he could hear anyone’s thoughts, humans or ‘reborn’ humans, and this time the person was approaching but no sound came to Jaemin.

He didn't hear anything. The realization was weird, the silence in his mind felt good but emptying. It was as if he had reached the last stage of being alone, hearing’s people thoughts being the only link he still had with most of his ‘friends’.

Jaemin was too in deep with his thoughts, he did not realize the person walking in the woods actually came out of the woods. When he retook control over his mind, he was as surprised as the person in front of him was.

There was a tall, raven-haired male in front of him, with gorgeous cat eyes and light moles on the side of his extremely sharply sculpted face. He was wearing a light blue shirt and black jeans, and Jaemin was taken aback by how handsome the male in front of him was. His sight almost made his heart miss a beat.

He tried to regain a sense of composure.

 

"Hello, are you lost?" he asked, and the male approached the pagoda with confident steps. Each step he took towards him, Jaemin’s heart missed a beat. He shouldn't feel like that. He mustn’t feel like that. The lack of human contact made him fall with anyone who looked new. He truly was going crazy.

No wonder people hated him.

The male eventually made it in front of the pagoda, and Jaemin realized how tall and charming he was up-close. He tried to look unbothered and smiled at the stranger.

"I’m sorry, I didn't hear you up there. You said ?" the male told Jaemin with nice, calming voice.

"I asked you if you were lost," he said, observing the male taking the few steps of the pagoda to reach him.

"Not really, I’m just … being adventurous I guess. I'm new here, are you too?" he said, and when he indicated the large place next to Jaemin on the stone bench of the fence, Jaemin nodded. The raven-haired male sat and Jaemin almost laughed at his comment.

"I’m far from being new! My name is Jaemin," he said with a genuine smile.

"I’m Jeno," he told him, observing the brunette’s eyelash flutter when he blinked. "It’s been four days I was allowed in the ground floor building and I’ve never seen you around though?" Jeno wondered, and Jaemin observed with surprise the male in front of him was already at the Advanced stage, judging from his dark grey aureola. Also, his aura was light gold, which meant a sort of enlightenment. Who was he? How come he only stayed for four days here?

"I’m not very outgoing lately I guess?" Jaemin nervously lied and laughed a bit, hoping the male would gulp down his lie. There was no way he’d tell him he spent half of his weeks in a cell being drained out of his power.

"I don't think you look like a non-outgoing person," Jeno said, and Jaemin wanted to scream at his heart to stop beating the way it did. It was almost erratic and he couldn't’ understand why. Even when confessing to his first love in 8th grade, his heart didn't beat half the way it did now. He felt a strong urge to stay here with Jeno even though he knew nothing of him. What was happening to him? It was like he was discovering a panel of new emotions unexplored until now.

"Really? I don’t ?" Jaemin asked, seeing how the male’s side profile was as handsome as his whole self. His lack of human contact really brought him to innocently flirt with a stranger; Jaemin really felt he was downgrading from his glorious peak a few months ago.

"No. I only see a gorgeous person in front of me now, nothing about outgoingness," Jeno told him. Jeno wasn’t usually the type of person who was into heavy flirt with a stranger but he also felt like someone else had taken over his usual composure.

Jaemin tried to remain confident but he could feel himself blushing like mad, attempting to hide it as much as he could by sending a big smile to Jeno. Why was he so nice, and why did his golden aura grow more and more by the time they talked? Also, why couldn't he read his thoughts? The silence was painfully pleasing but it was a mystery to Jaemin.

"Do you… Do you have any power related to mental capacities, by chance?" Jaemin asked, and Jeno frowned his eyebrows, his eyelashes falling on his cheeks when he blinked.

"Yes, I guess, my power is telekinesis so it’s kind of linked to mental capacities," he explained, and Jaemin felt impressed because telekinesis was a marvellous gift. He wondered what were the extents of what Jeno could do with it. "Why?"

"Because I can’t read your thoughts," Jaemin let out blatantly and was faced with a curious expression from Jeno.

"You’re a telepath? That's awesome !" he exclaimed, and his exclamation was contagious because Jaemin felt a regain of pride in his power. "I guess our powers act like reverse magnets since it’s both mental abilities so that you can’t use it on me?" Jeno tried to explain, and Jaemin felt dubitative. Ten’s ability also was mental but he always could listen to his thoughts. Maybe Taeyong was behind it, protecting a secret that Jeno might have or trying the brunette’s boy ability to counter his power?

"YOU TWO! Did you forget about the rule of not using powers one on another?" they heard someone exclaim only to be faced with a regular staff looking pissed. "Jaemin you’re in Master stage but Jeno’s only an Advanced and you don't have the right to practice powers in these conditions," she exclaimed, and the two boys looked at her with astonishment.

"We were not using any power right now," Jeno said, dumbfounded when the staff took the steps to get closer to them. The staff male didn't look convinced at all. Jaemin didn't add anything because he surprisingly felt the relief of Jeno handling the situation so that he wouldn’t have to, and observed the scene with curiosity.

"Don’t lie to me, the power rates were going to some crazy high levels, I don't know what you were doing but you are not allowed to," he said.

Both males were confused because they had not been using their powers at all. Jaemin glanced at Jeno, who was as confused as him.

"I’m going to have to jail you considering you used your powers a couple of seconds ago. You could have hurt yourselves or someone with your capacities," the staff explained, and Jaemin saw Jeno’s aura shift from gold to dark red.

"If we tell you we didn't use our powers, it’s because we didn’t. I think we are old enough to take responsibility," Jeno was beginning to be angry, his voice being one tone lower than it was before. Jaemin also felt anger and fear of Jeno being hurt by the staff but he couldn't explain why. Everything had been so strange until now.

"If you think you are threatening me, wait until I jail you," the staff said, and Jaemin could feel in his tone and his thoughts that he was not reassured by Jeno who got up and was facing him. The brunette felt that the situation was going to escalate quickly if he didn't do anything, so he got up to face the staff male.

"It’s ok, no need to make this worse. We’ll get to the building quietly and without any problems," Jaemin said, putting one hand on Jeno’s arm, not knowing why or how he thought he got the right to touch him. The other male didn't seem to mind though, and the brunette swore he felt a sort of electric feeling in his fingers that brushed Jeno’s body.

"It’s better, yes," the staff was trying to be menacing and acting as if he made concessions but Jaemin felt relief in his thoughts. "Jaemin, take the right way, Jeno I’ll escort you since you’re new."

Jaemin glared at Jeno’s direction and realized the boy had the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen, being pitch black but as deep as the ocean was said to be. It almost made Jaemin’s heart miss yet another beat, but he tried to compose himself and sent smiled a big smile in the male’s direction before taking the direction indicated.

It took an hour for his heart to calm down.

______

Jeno was still curious about the whole situation that had just happened. He had diligently followed the staff -knowing better than not to obey them- but wondering why he had been so sharp and defensive out of the sudden. He usually had a positive, easy going personality but the staff threat on him and Jaemin had put him out of his means.

Why had he been feeling this way?

Ever since he saw the brunette in the forest, he had not acted like he was used to. His heart has raced in his chest just like the day he died, and the sadness he felt because he’d never see his family, friends and cats again had disappeared. What was happening to him? What had this Jaemin done to him?

The thought he had used his power to make him feel all this towards him passed his mind, but surprisingly his mind refused to give any faults to the beautiful brunette.

He laid down a bit, placing his hand on his forehead and trying to regain his usual state. Even if he had been far from Jaemin for hours now, he still felt the same emotions when he thought of him. He had felt literal sparkles when the brunette had placed his hand on his arm to stop him from beating up the shit out of the staff.

But on top of these hesitations, the only thought invading his mind was: when was he going to see Jaemin again?

After being told to stay his room the entire day, he was allowed to go have dinner in the kitchen. He hated being treated like a rebel teen in a psychiatric hospital just like his first couple of days here made him feel like. He was a grown eighteen years old male, not some suicidal kid who needed constant eyes on him to avoid him killing himself as soon as he could. He didn't even know if he could have done this, considering the very mysterious nature of his second life.

He eventually reached the kitchen and saw a couple of people were already seated, waiting for their meal and chatting. Jeno had been introduced formally to all of them a couple of days, and he had concluded they were all mostly nice and different. He got along with Mark, who could have been the type of person he’d have been friends with in his previous life. He also liked Johnny and his passion for nature; Yuta was fascinating to listen to when he recalled his past life trips’ as a fashion designer. He took a bit more time to get along with Haechan, mostly because of his loud and obnoxious nature; however, he must have admitted his jokes made him think about anything else than his second life misery.

Jeno took a seat next to Haechan who was talking as loud as usual with Mark, laughing and snickering at some random gossips. They stopped when they saw Jeno taking a seat next to them.

"What the hell have you done already? I heard the staff talk about you this afternoon and they didn't seem pleased. At all," Mark looked at Jeno with an eyebrow raised and Jeno turned to face him, giving him the confused ‘it’s me you’re talking to?’ look.

"They are liars!" he said, observing Haechan and Mark’s eyes. They both appreciated the male as he was charming and easy going, but hearing from the staff mutter about power levels going to another higher rate, they wondered what the hell was the raven male up to.

"Wow, no shit Sherlock," Mark snickered and Haechan joined in. It seemed everyone hated the staff around here. Jeno smiled, knowing from his first days here that asking too many questions and being loud wouldn’t get him anywhere.

The cook gave them their food for the night, and as much as Jeno liked to complain of the NSF, he had to admit that the quality of life was a thousand times better than what he had been used to back in Chicago. Mark practically gulped down his plate of pasta in one go and all three laughed about it.

"If you see Jaemin, tell him I put his food in the last container of the fridge," the cook told Haechan and the sunkissed boy nodded. The cook didn't exactly know the brunette’s schedule as the latter was very random but had grown to appreciate the boy and therefore would feel guilty to leave him to starve.

At the evocation of Jaemin’s name, Jeno raised his eyes to Haechan, most traces of laughter in him having disappeared.

"You know Jaemin?" he asked Haechan, and the latter turned to him, his aura changing from indigo to dark blue. He answered a brief ‘of course I know him, he’s one of the first that came here’ without giving more details. It irritated the hell out of Jeno, which scared him. People usually never managed to irritate him. "Where is he?" he added, and Haechan raised his eyebrows at him; why would Jeno want to know Jaemin’s location?

"Hell if I know, he spends most of his time in the underground doing …stuff. Practising I guess? But you’d rather not hang with him," Haechan didn't even try to lie, because he didn't know what was the extent’s of Jeno’s telekinesis and would rather not be projected on the wall like he had seen people with his power do in movies if the raven-haired male thought he’d be lying. As much as you could get along people in this unit, you never knew what they could do to you if you made them lose it.

"Yeah, he’s right, even the staff is scared of him. You know, mind reading and this kind of shit, it’s better to stay away, best for your survival here," Mark added and Jeno threw an angry glare at him, getting up from the bar chair.

"Wait, where are you going?" Mark added, seeing Jeno leave and getting no answers.

He walked fast in the direction of the underground, passing the wooden, light brown corridors to reach the ground level in order to find the escalator. He didn't know why he felt the need to see the brunette so much; he didn't know anything about him but he felt the urge to find him, be sure he was doing well and was not hurt. It was like he couldn't control his legs and the direction he was heading to.

Jeno eventually reached the escalator and took it, the metallic noise contrasting with the emptiness of the underground hall. No noise was heard except this, and Jeno kept his power wary of any presence around him. He reached the metallic door that was closed for them and required a staff card to open it.

Fortunately, Jeno's power was a gift in these situations, and by a single thought, a staff card appeared in his hand. His power allowed him to make objects move at some different speeds and strengths but also to make things appear; it was getting more and more precise day by day. And he was sure he could materialize a thousand of objects by now.

He managed to open the door and walked silently in the futuristic corridors, grunting because of the strong chemical smell. The underground was the neuralgic centre of all units in the NSF centre and therefore a place of high control. It was no wonder someone eventually found him.

"What are you doing here? Bedtime is almost there. You’re not allowed in the underground unless you’re accompanied by a staff," one military man shouted at him, and Jeno remarked he had a syringe in his hand. He didn’t look too pleased to see the taller male wandering around.

Jeno kept silent and did as if he didn't notice the guard, letting his feet lead the way and accelerated when the man behind him ran after him.

"Are you deaf? Stop walking RIGHT NOW," the man shouted, and it made something click in Jeno’s mind.

"I could kill you right now if I wanted to," Jeno warned, not turning back. He could feel the guard was still following him, and he was surprised his own voice came out as cold and manipulative.

"There are more armed men coming if I were you I’d stop provoking and go back to my room on the spot."

He turned back to the guard and without any touch on the man, threw him on the next wall a dozen meters away from their initial position. The man’s back hit the metallic wall with a crack and Jeno surprisingly didn't mind. He continued walking, feeling amazed by the daily evolution of his power but scared of his nonchalant attitude towards hurting human being.

Jeno kind of lost himself in the dozen of corridors in the underground and didn't even know what he had been looking for, going there. Jaemin was nowhere to be seen and Jeno realized following his irrational mind had been pretty dumb Suddenly and as expected, dozens of guards arrived, and the male knew he’d better not act on them. He surrendered and let them sedate him easily.

_____

After the fence incident, Jaemin could feel the staff had been stressed, as they kept him one day more in the cell than usual without giving reasons. He knew something was wrong because he had not used any power with Jeno despite the staff claims.

This was rather odd, because in general they never failed at their jobs, as unfair as they were to most of the boys. Did this incident have any link with the fact Jaemin wasn’t able to read Jeno’s mind? Something was off and Jaemin could feel it.

He had finally been released from the underground, but his right hand was in pain because he felt they drew more energy than usual from him. Something was definitely wrong and it didn't take time for the brunette to link all of this to Jeno. But as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t blame him. His mind was only filled with positive thoughts for the taller male. He was even a tad worried for him, after the incident. Had he been jailed? Was he hurt?

The brunette rested for the whole afternoon, but when he woke up, his face and neck were soaked wet with sweat because he had been worried about Jeno. He shouldn't be worried for him, because he didn't know anything about him but it was something he felt could not fight, and the brunette felt the need to check on Jeno, a week after they first met under the pagoda.

He took a rapid shower, noticing a spot on his left wrist was becoming blue because of the excess power and blood draining and decided to ignore it. He just hoped the staff would stop doing whatever they were doing to him as soon as they could, because it was because a living hell to stay days and days in his underground room, drained from his energy. He then put some clothes on and left his room in hopes to find Jeno’s.

After two years in the building, he knew where the other’s room was located, so finding their new member’s assigned bedroom wasn’t hard to do. Also, he could use the specific fact that he couldn’t hear Jeno’s thoughts to guide him; after some time, he reached a door in front of which every person’s thoughts around him disappeared. He knocked on it, his heart beating fast once more as if it had been awakened.

Eventually, the door opened, and Jaemin was faced with Jeno; the first thing brunette realized was that they were exactly the same height. Jeno had a surprised but positive look on his face, giving Jaemin a smile which made his eyes crease in the sweetest way. Jaemin sent him a big smile, reassured to see the male didn't look hurt or drained of his energy.

"Hey Jeno, it’s nice to see you again," Jaemin said and Jeno gave him yet another smile, which Jaemin thought was too beautiful to be real.

"It’s been a long time, how have you been?" he answered, and the brunette told him he was fine, a bit tired by training but nothing unusual. "Do you want to come in?" he proposed, noticing it as only 6 pm and that they had 3 hours before bedtime and the staff kicking Jaemin out of his room. The latter nodded, observing Jeno’s room and realizing it was looking a lot like his, except the walls were grey and that there were little to no personal objects, a sign that Jeno had been here only for short period of time.

"Where have you been? I met everyone here twice or thrice since last week but there was no sign of you anywhere," Jeno said, sitting on his bed, his long legs hanging off. Jaemin looked at him with an apologetic look on his face at first, before walking around Jeno’s room.

"You know, training, practising… The building is huge, we even might have crossed each other in the parallel corridors?" the brunette boy lied with confidence, seeing how Jeno’s aura passed from gold to dark blue. The brunette observed from afar how beautiful Jeno looked with the dim lights of his room, sharpening his already godly sharp features.

"I’ve been locked up for the last three days so that might also explain why our paths didn’t cross this week," Jeno sighed, remembering how he didn't have any regrets when the staff’s excessive jailed him because he broke the man’s vertebral colon when throwing him on the wall. He had felt scared at first, remembering how he’d never hurt an animal; but somehow, the quest he had been on that night, to find Jaemin, had justified the means used to achieve it.

"Why have you been jailed?" Jaemin asked, worry in his voice betraying his usual confident self. Jeno explained he had harmed a staff, without giving more details.

"Be careful, they only jailed you but they could do worse next time," Jaemin was worried Jeno might get in other troubles with the NSF and end up like him, reduced to a slave in the basement and drained of his energy.

"Don’t worry, I was just fooling around," Jeno reassured him with his gorgeous smile, glaring at Jaemin’s big brown eyes with his sharp ones. The brunette felt his heart run a marathon when he did so.

"Your eyes… They are … So beautiful," he whispered, wondering if Jeno had had them naturally or if they came with his ‘second life’. Jaemin had the feeling everyone in this unit was so magnificently gorgeous, all having ethereal characteristics like Taeyong’s cold beauty, Ten’s feline eyes, Jaehyun’s manly charms, Haechan’s endearing ambiguous looks, Mark’s burning charming self and Jungwoo’s handsomeness. He felt out of place like he had not reached the level of beauty everyone did here while being reborn.

Jeno chuckled, his eyes slightly creasing in the most delightful way. They remained like this for a couple of seconds, before Jaemin realized he still couldn't hear Jeno’s thoughts. His mind for once was completely empty if not for his thoughts.

"I still can’t hear your thoughts," Jaemin sighed, and he realized he was unusually comfortable around Jeno, feeling like he could chat with the taller male about everything, a thing he hadn’t felt in a long time. Jeno asked him if he could hear anyone, "I can hear the others people here, the staff and basically everyone around me more or less loudly," he explained.

"That must be so exhausting and… impersonal," Jeno guessed, raising his charming eyes to the brunette who nodded. "Maybe it’s whatever supernatural entity above us who made my thoughts impossible to read so that you could finally rest your mind?" Jeno guessed and Jaemin laughed with one of the most genuine laughs he’s ever had in a long time. It had been so long he had felt secured around someone he realized how good it felt.

"I can even chat with people using telepathy, but I don't think it would work with you," Jaemin realized, and Jeno told him to try anyway because maybe only one feature of his power was corrupted with him. Jaemin placed his hand on Jeno’s one, knowing that contact made his power easier. He felt tiny little sparkles on his fingers when doing so, just like he did the first time they met.

He moved his hand without using any of his power, looking at Jeno’s expression that indicated he also felt the little electric sparkles on their skin touching. They both looked very confused but not scared.

They didn't even have the time to talk about it that that two staff members entered in the room, syringes in hand, looking very displeased.

"What don’t you two understand in ‘no use of capacities at your power levels’ ?" one of the staff coldly asked them while the other was approaching them with a cold look. Jaemin instinctively was ready to fight anyone who’d hurt Jeno, whatever the consequences would be for him. "What were you doing? The power level went high once more, up to 250," the staff continued, leaving the two boys surprised because they had not used the slightest of their powers and Jaemin knew the highest he’d reach was 200 during his last examination when he passed the Master level.

Something was _wrong_.

"I don’t know what you think, but we were not using any power. We were just talking," Jaemin tried to defend the both of them but the staff seemed too preoccupied to listen to him. The brunette’s tone was diplomat and calm but Jaemin feared things would escalate quickly. He just didn't want to be once more put in the underground, and, on top of that, Jeno hurt.

"We are fed up with your lies," the staff spat, and Jaemin saw Jeno’s hand clench. "You were using your powers after a first warning," he added.

Suddenly, only using his hand and his power, Jeno raised all the furniture in his room two meters above the ground and looked at the staff’s eyes with a daring look.

"I am NOW using my power, and you don’t want me to use it on you," his tone was menacing. "If you can't make a difference between talking and using powers, its time to change your staff and machines," and the second person in the room, the one with the syringe was indeed looking at the power levels indicator, showing it to the first person.

"Look, he’s right, the line we used to think was a power level is… something different. The blue one is the power, and indeed it’s only been active now," he explained, and they both tried to regain composure but Jaemin could hear their thoughts were confused and that they longed to be back in the underground to solve this problem. What came after was nothing unexpected.

"Jaemin, go back to your room and stay there until further notice. Jeno, you stay here; don’t make more troubles than you already did," the first staff coldly said, forcing Jaemin to get out of Jeno’s room. The brunette’s big brown eyes looked out for sharp black ones but out of a sudden, the door was closed on him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so here is part 3 ! sorry for the delay, i have been busy with school and life! 
> 
> this chapter is quite long but a lot of stuff happens ~  
> enjoy :D

**Part 3**

 

“So you're saying the power line is different from the other line we thought was the sign they both used their powers to high levels?” Dr Lana Wisley to the dozen of experimented staff and scientist gathered around the table for the urgency meeting.

Dr Wisley has been noticed Jaemin and Jeno were using high rates of power when they were together, and it had annoyed her as much as it had intrigued her. She had also been told the machine that usually showed one sole red sign, the line of the intensity of powers, had shown another line, blue this time.

“Yes, doctor. We have studied this line, which is indeed another power one, but involuntary. We can for sure affirm the two boys were not using their powers consciously during the times the rates went high,” one of the experts said, having been mandated to work on the matter for the past hours.

“What is the scientific department conclusion on this?” Dr Lana Wisley was getting impatient, as she felt that Jaemin and Jeno were like ticking bombs, waiting to explode at any moment.

She had been noticed of the incredible progress of Jaemin and of the frightening powers that Jeno developed. Seeing how the two reacted one around another, she feared the worse.

Working in the NSF meant she and the rest of the staff had to keep control over the supernatural beings they had been taking care of. They all knew they were playing with fire, as they didn't know the extent one might reach with their powers; this is mostly why they had been noticed that they should not hesitate to kill one of them if they became threatening.

“We requested blood samples from the two of them,” another expert explained, leaving the rest of the people around the table surprised. Lana nodded, starting to understand where the scientists were going with this. She ordered one staff to study the blood samples and they now had to wait for a couple of hours to clearly affirm what had been wrong with Jaemin and Jeno.

Indeed, two hours later, the meeting had been started all over again, and the chief of the science department had a solemn look on his face.

“The science department has reached a conclusion of the actual situation. We conclude that we have another case of soulmates. But in this case, it’s a different one,” the expert explained. Everyone peered at him with serious expressions, remembering the day when it had been Sicheng’s case that rocked the pre-established order of things. Out of the hundreds of patient they had throughout the units of the building, less than twenty of them developed the soulmate gene. But it seemed like this time was a distinct case.

“You mean that… One of them is the other’s soulmate?” Dr Lana Wisely asked, a part of her knowing she was not right.

“No. Both of them are _each other’s soulmate_ s,” the chief of the scientific department answered and everyone had been astounded by the statement.

They had had cases of supernatural beings encountering their soulmates within the staff or strangers visiting the building. They had had various cases of heterosexual, gay and lesbian soulmates, but it had never happened between two supernatural beings.

“We have found the same gene than in Sicheng’s blood as well as other units patients who have a soulmate, and we eventually found out the fact they are soulmate is creating a wave of energy whenever the two boys are near one another, for they are two supernatural being,” he continued, leaving everyone silenced. The situation was worse than they could imagine, because this was concerning two of the best supernatural beings of the new unit and that it was a new level of uncertainty. The NSF employees hated what they didn't fully expect.

“We are not going to tell them for now, that’s for sure. We have to watch them closely for a couple of weeks to see the extent of this link, how we can use them and if we cannot use it, how to suppress the externalities of it. I trust the scientific department to study the blue line’s matter, and we will work on studying the impact it has on the project,” Dr Lana Wisley explained with her usual tact, trying to act unbothered, and everyone agreed.

They were going to test Jeno and Jaemin’s link.

  
______

Jaemin had been surprised to be informed he would not be required to go to the basement anymore for now. A staff had come to tell him one fine morning, three days after the bedroom incident, that we could leave his room; he had been secluded in there for days ever since the previous episode.

He had been happy about it, understanding he might finally get some rest and try to better his power as to eventually reach Ultimate level. However, the thought that Jeno could have taken his place in the underground made him worry more than he should have. He did not have any information about the raven-haired, leaving anxious thoughts in Jaemin's mind.

Jaemin got up from his laying position, tried to arrange his messy brown hair, and changed from his pyjamas to a more casual outfit. His mood was good today, partly due to the Damocles sword upon his head being removed for now. However, the brunette often thought about the bedroom incident; he knew something had been off with the two of them and that the staff knew it as much as they did.

He felt reassured when he saw Jeno seated in the kitchen, eating what looked like waffles. He was so handsome, even from afar, with his dark hair and charismatic aura; Jaemin wondered if this is was humanly possible to be that beautiful, before remembering they for sure were not humans anymore. Jaemin saw that there was Jungwoo also seating in the corner, eating and reading what seemed to be the newspapers, and Mark was pouring himself some coffee.

“Good morning, long time no see!” the cook greeted Jaemin, and it made everyone in the room turn to the brunette walking towards the counter. He threw a smile to the cook and grabbed a seat next to Jeno, trying to look confident and ignore his racing heart.

“Hey,” he greeted his table neighbour; Jeno gave him one of his infamous charming smiles. Both would not admit it but they felt reassured when they saw each other unharmed and looking fine. “Do you always wake up that early?” he asked, realizing it was just a couple of minutes after 9 and that Jeno looked wide-awake.

“Even earlier. I’m a light sleeper, only 5 to 6 hours of sleep is good for me for the day,” Jeno explained, taking a bit of his breakfast while the cook handed Jaemin a cup of dark coffee. “Is it coffee you’re drinking or water with black food colouring?” Jeno remarked, but with a tone that made Jaemin think there was no mockery at all. Curiosity about poor drinking choices, maybe.

“I might be young but there’s no way I can function without my daily caffeine intake,” he joked and it made Jeno laugh out loud, that kind of laugh that made you feel safe, secure, and … home. Yes, Jeno felt like home to Jaemin, a long lost home that he’d never have any chance to return. A home where no one could hurt him.

“This still looks like Satan’s drink,” Jeno lightly mocked him, reaching out for Jaemin’s cup. He took a sip of his coffee and the expression on his face indicated he did not like it at all “I’m sorry but this has to be the most bitter drink I’ve ever had” he said. Jaemin tried to appear offended.

“Maybe you have kids tastes then,” he daringly said, making Jeno nudge him. Mark was discreetly looking at them, and Jungwoo was listening to them even though he was trying not to bother them. They were amazed by how the two boys got along that well, even though their socially outgoing personalities matched really well.

“How the hell is liking waffles having kids taste,” Jeno wondered, looking at Jaemin with a funny look in his eyes.

“Real adults drink coffee and big babies eat waffles, I don’t make the rules,” Jaemin laughed, Jeno joining him in his laughter. What did Jaemin possess to make him feel so secure, relax, unaware of the uncertainty of his life here? He even forgot Mark and Jungwoo were there and laughed like there was no tomorrow, his stomach hurting.

“Touché, I’m just a big baby stuck at the age of 18 forever I guess,” he explained and the joyful feeling left for a sadder, tragic one. Jaemin looked at Jeno with what seemed to be compassion.

“That’s … terrible. No one should die at that age,” Jaemin said and Jeno nodded. They both knew their presence in the facility meant they had somehow died, and Jaemin realized Jeno was the same age he had been when he died. He really wanted to tell Jeno he was so sorry he died, but he decided not to.

There was a silence after, but not as awkward as Jaemin thought it would have been. Mark was done eating and left, Jungwoo kept on reading his newspaper and Jaemin drank his coffee in a couple of sips, glancing at Jeno from time to time.

Little did they know the staffs was recording all the power rates, and they discovered every time the two males looked at each other, the rates were going rocket high.

“Do you want to go to the gardens with me? I still kind go need a guide to help me around,” Jeno eventually asked, and Jaemin felt his heart race at the idea of Jeno wanting to spend time with him. He tried to keep his usual composure.

“So you only want to go with me because you need a guide? How rude!” he joked, hitting Jeno’s ribs with his elbow and feeling the same electric shocks when he did. He couldn't say these little shocks were painful, but they were weird. It was like the ‘butterfly in the stomach’ materialized itself in every physical contact they had.

“It looks more like I’m trying to find some excuses to have some time with you, but you didn’t hear that from me,” Jeno tried to act innocent and this time Jaemin didn't hide his blatant blush.

When the brunette was done with his coffee and Jeno with his waffles, they left the cafeteria and headed to the gardens. They passed the hall, which was located in the middle of the main building and left the building for the forest, which was composed of wild nature surrounding the lake. Jaemin explained all of this to Jeno who felt like he was more concentrated on how gorgeous the brunette was than on what he was saying.

“Do you think there is a limit to this forest?” Jeno asked, and Jaemin admitted he himself thought about this.

“Maybe there is some invisible fence protecting the area? It wouldn’t be surprising,” Jaemin answered, eyeing the sky and wondering if it was technologically speaking possible to create such fence.

They walked for more, an hour maybe, before they eventually reached a wilder part, with a waterfall and massive rocks next to it. Jeno indicated Jaemin they could sit there for a while and they did, enjoying the light sunrays and the fresh breeze of May’s weather.

They found themselves chatting about their previous lives, and Jaemin somehow ended up admitting he had died at 18 too.

“What happened?” Jeno eventually asked, quite blatantly. He had this question roaming in his head since morning, and the thought someone had hurt Jaemin made him want to kill anyone with his bare hands. This thought was disturbing to him because he knew that he probably would never have reacted this way before. He would never have hurt a fly in his past life “Only if you want to talk about it, I don't want to bother you if that's still painful,” he redeemed himself when he saw Jaemin’s usually bright eyes dim a little bit.

“Don’t worry. I … can’t talk about it, but I can _show_ you,” Jaemin said, and Jeno frowned his eyebrows because he didn't know where Jaemin was coming from with this ‘showing’ thing. He saw Jaemin coming closer to him, their knees almost touching because Jaemin was sitting cross legs. They were close to each other, only a dozen of centimetres separating their bodies, and Jaemin reached to Jeno’s cheek with his hand. He had learned this technique a couple of months ago and wanted to see if it could work on Jeno.

He placed his palm on the male’s face and was confronted with a surprised glance from Jeno’s beautiful eyes, feeling an intense tingling in his fingers. He tried not to bother about it and concentrated on his power.

Jeno wondered where Jaemin was going with this and was looking at the brunette boy’s face. He had his eyes closed, thick eyelashes touching his cheeks. Suddenly, he couldn't see Jaemin, but what seemed to be his memories.

Jaemin showed him through his powers the reason why he died on that sordid night two years ago.

It all happened so fast Jeno had to blink multiple times after it was over, to see if he really was back with Jaemin in the forest or on that cold parking lot observing him die.

The angry feeling invaded him immediately, and he realized everything the brunette had been through. Through the memories Jaemin had shown him, he could feel vulnerability and distress, which made Jeno want to both cry and fight anyone who did this to the brunette. He glanced at Jaemin, an indecipherable look in his sharp eyes.

His eyes were teary, but he was trying to keep composure. Jeno felt his heart tear at the image.

“Jaemin, I …” Jeno tried, but Jaemin placed his hand on his', indicating him he didn't need to say anything.

“What happened is the past, there is nothing I can do about it,” he explained, moving his hands on his knees and playing with the holes of his ripped jeans. “The only thing I have to do is to bear with it,” he added. The usage of Jaemin’s power to share memories had been one of the most powerful things Jeno had ever experienced. It had been as if Jeno had been with the brunette that night, helpless and hurt.

“You’re not forced to act as it doesn't hurt,” Jeno said out of the blue, and Jaemin raised his teary eyes at him. “You’re allowed to cry if it still hurts,” Jeno told him, reaching to grab Jaemin’s hands, tightly but not in a painful way. Jaemin felt the entire tingling sensation invade him. He felt like he could only see Jeno and that he was all that mattered. Everything happening lately with the raven-haired male was so special and out of the ordinary nothing surprised him anymore.

“How… How do you know I’m still hurt?” Jaemin was surprised that Jeno’s words had hit home in his heart. Could memories also traduce actual feelings? Jaemin had to admit he indeed felt like bursting to tears whenever he thought about his previous life; he usually never talked about it or showed how hurt he still was. Considering the fact everybody else here also had died, he knew that he was in no position to complain or break down.

“I can feel it. Don’t ask me why, I don't know myself, but that's not the point. Don’t blame yourself about this,” he expressed with concern, still holding Jaemin’s hands. They both could feel the small electric shocks their contact provoked. Jeno’s presence was so soothing and securing that Jaemin couldn’t help the couple of tears that rolled down his cheeks. He had wanted to brush them off, but Jeno was still holding his hands and the contact was strangely fulfilling.

Eventually, more tears came, and before he knew, Jaemin realized he was crying. It was as if years of self-taming about his past life had led to this moment, and he cried some more. Jeno felt his heart clench when he saw the distress of Jaemin, even though he had been the one to encourage him to let it all out. He felt an inevitable need to protect him and erase any fear and worry of his mind. In his past life, he would have felt that distressed for anyone looking that sad, but the intensity of the sadness he felt for Jaemin was beyond anything he’d ever felt. Why did he feel so involved with the brunette?

Eventually, because Jaemin had been crying too much, Jeno wrapped his arms around the brunette’s body, so that his head was placed on his shoulder. Far from rejecting him, Jaemin grabbed Jeno’s black hoodie with his fists and enjoyed the comforting feeling of the embrace.

Jeno could feel Jaemin’s surreal smell from their position, rubbing Jaemin’s back with his hand to comfort him. The tingling feeling had now propagated in their torso, hands, arms, and Jaemin’s neck, but it was soothing, almost captivating.

Suddenly, they felt the rocks moving under them, and Jeno realized there was actually a small earthquake happening. Water from the waterfall was leaking and flowing in the untouched nature, and the massive rocks were falling in the water, the one they were sitting on being dangerously close to the side of the waterfall. They could both feel the ground shake a bit, and because of that, they separated.

It all suddenly stopped.

They looked at one another with astonishment and incomprehension, worried about what just did happen. Nature had come back to it original unbothered state, and everything was calm, silent around them.

Jaemin’s eyes were still red and he was looking at the surroundings with distress. What did happen? Did Jeno use his power to make nature awake like this? Judging from the male's expression, it couldn't be true. Did the staff activate some mechanism to make them separate? Maybe it was Johnny or a new member added to their unit’s doings, tricking them.

“Are you fine?” Jeno asked, inspecting if Jaemin had not been injured. Jaemin nodded, noticing Jeno was fine too and that his aura was back to pinkish gold. “I don't know what the hell happened, but we better not stay here,” he added and Jaemin agreed. The brunette followed Jeno, who led them somewhere safer, far from the waterfall.

“Jeno?” the raven hair heard Jaemin call him, and he turned back. Jaemin grabbed his hand, and with a big smile, whispered a ‘thank you’ that meant a lot. The brunette felt it could not be possible for his pain to disappear simply by discussing and playing along with whatever catharsis method Jeno had used on him, but he felt free from worry about his death, and the guilt intent that habited him for so long. Jeno truly was an exceptional being.

“You’re more than welcome,” the raven-haired male responded with a genuine smile which made his eyes crease, grabbing Jaemin’s hand tighter.

  
____________

“We’ve followed the machine results for two weeks now, and we can already confirm the conclusions we had drawn previously. I don’t know what to do with them,” Dr Wisley was in her office, talking with the State’s representative that was mandated to supervise the evolution of the projects they trained and prepared here.

“I have a few hours before going back to Washington, tell me more about the conclusions you drew,” General Houston said, sitting on the chair in front of Dr Lana Wisley.

He was supervising the supernatural beings project for more than eight years and was always amazed by the potential of these beings and how wonderful they were, with their abilities and the rules that came with it.

“We understood that when they are in each other’s presence, their powers are reinforced by almost double; other patients with the soulmate gene also gain power from contact with their lover, but in this case, they are each other’s soulmate, so it’s even stronger, and therefore… more critical. Also, we concluded that any physical touch created waves of power,” she explained, having supervised researches for a while now. After the waterfall incident, they had spent at least two hours every day in each other’s presence, at the library, kitchen, saloon and bedrooms, talking and holding hands. Nothing more than this happened.

“So, you're telling me that if they were to kiss, the energy created by the intercourse could destroy the entire building?” General Houston guessed, a bit amused but massively concerned.

“Probably,” Dr Wisley answered. If a simple touch could make the earth shake, she couldn't imagine the rest. “We, however, observed a stabilization of the energy freed recently; the power level reached 300 when they first held hands and now it’s stabilizing at 80 for the last few days,” she explained, which reassured the general.

“We have to find a way to control this but to also be beneficiary of this energy freed. Imagine what we could do with the power if it reached 1000,” the general said, and the woman in front of him agreed. It was a complex task because the case of the two males was as interesting as it was dangerous. “But one thing is sure; we have to make sure not to make any of them mad, because who knows what they could do if one is hurt or in danger,” and Lana Wisley agreed once more. She remembered one time when one patient of another unit killed two staff in one clack of hands because his lover, a nurse from the Health Department, had been overworked. This time, the risk was not worth taking.

“We’ll separate them for a couple of days, to see how they react,” she explained and the general agreed. “And then we will hold a meeting with all the information collected to take a decision,” she concluded.

“The decisions range from what to what, exactly?”

“From letting them be, to separating them into different units or killing one or both of them in the worst cases,” she listed. “No one except the people working on the matter knows about the fact they are each other’s soulmate and we must keep it a secret until further notice,” she announced.

 

______

“I’m so happy to have reached the Master stage!” Haechan exclaimed, bragging for the tenth time on that day how he reached another level after stagnating for so long at the Advanced level.

“Yeah, nothing to brag about, half of us have it and Jeno’s probably gonna get it soon too,” Ten rolled his eyes, laying on the sofa while Haechan took a seat on the coffee table, avid of gossips.

“You’re just jealous because you’re still at the Advanced stage,” the brunette pulled his tongue at Ten in a childish way. “Jeno is so advanced though, he’s been with us for less than two months and he’s slowly going to be the most powerful one of us,” Haechan sighed. He often talked with the male during breakfast or dinner, but never had dared to admit in front of him that he was really powerful. Haechan knew the extent of Jeno’s power, usually practising after the tall male; he had seen Jeno’s daily practices, amazed by his powers. He could make things move, being thrown and make almost anything appear and disappear. “He’s really nice, but I still don’t get why Jaemin and him are such good friends. He hangs out with him so frequently recently,” Haechan added.

"I know! I see them together like almost once a day!" Ten had always thought Jeno would be best friends with Mark, but seeing the two males together made him realize one thing. ”They seem so alike, it’s scary. I think they are the exact same height and I'm sure they have the exact same way of seeing the world,” Ten gossiped, Haechan avidly nodding. “And they’re like, best friends now? Dude, have you seen Jeno smile at Jaemin? I’m not into him but I felt shivers run down my spine,” Ten exclaimed.

“I know! I’ve never seen anyone smile at someone else like that,” Haechan sighed. The younger one used his power to create a bit of a dim light because it was getting dark and he was too lazy to switch the lamp on. “Something feels wrong though, I don’t what exactly but I can feel it,” Haechan explained and Ten nodded. He had felt it too.

“Do you think… I mean… That they could be more than friends?” Ten hesitated, and Haechan realized he really liked the feline eyed male because they thought about the same things most of the times.

  
“I don't know. I’m pretty sure Jaemin told me he didn’t mind about gender, but I wonder if Jeno plays in that category. Maybe the lack of human contact makes you take anything,” he snickered. “But if they are, I’m out of here. They are amongst the most powerful here and them being together is certainly no good for us, I guess. We better pack our luggage and disappear in the forest as soon as possible,” he laughed and Ten followed him.

Little did they know it was worst that that.

  
______________

The NSF put Jaemin back in his cells two weeks after the waterfall incident; he had spent so much time with Jeno after that accident he felt like knowing him for ages. They had discussed, wandered around for so long, after Jeno’s practices, that they lost count of how many times they met and how many hours they had spent together. Jaemin felt like he could talk of everything with Jeno, tell him his worries, his dreams and everything that passed his mind.

But it had to end eventually because Jaemin had to go back to the underground as ordered by the staff. And the schedule started again.

They drained his power once more, but he had the feeling it was not as harsh as the last times he had gone to his basement room. They fed him this time, but he still had a needle in his vein and a bracelet for his power.

And each day that Jaemin was missing was like a blow in the face to Jeno. Actually, each minute that passed meant Jeno missed Jaemin even more than he already did. He didn't know, why, how he did yearn for someone he knew for a couple of months that much, but he was feeling empty every day without him.

Jaemin had mysteriously disappeared for three days, without a word, and Jeno decided it was time to act.

He decided to sneak out of his room in the middle of the night when the staff would not expect him not to and used his power to make all cameras on his way disappear; he was sure Jaemin was kept in the underground. Jeno was not stupid, Jaemin looked very embarrassed every time he had asked him why he had spent so much time in the underground when they first had met. The brunette’s emotions were becoming easier to read now, and Jeno was sure that something or someone was keeping Jaemin prisoner down there.

Nothing obstructed his path to the underground and he made it safe and sound in the futuristic corridors, as empty as they had been the first time he had been there alone. He walked with a fast pace, letting his mind that was too enamoured with Jaemin lead him the way to the brunette. It wasn’t rational anymore but the whole second life thing wasn’t very rational either. Maybe with magic came a sort of ‘perfect friendship’ that he was experiencing with Jaemin.

Out of nowhere, Jeno could hear people running, and he guessed the staff was after him. Cameras out of service all the way from his bedroom to the underground, he had not been really smart on this one but he was betting on his long legs and his power to arrive first to his goal. He turned around and created a huge wall blocking the way for whoever was coming after him before running away as fast as he could. Jaemin wasn’t far, he could feel the boy’s presence from afar.

“He’s going to the control rooms!” he heard one guard say, and Jeno understood he was on the good path. He created two other walls in other corridors that could occupy guards and ran faster to his objective. Eventually, he made it in a huge hall, without windows, illuminated with blue and violet neon, with futurist designs and white everything. It smelled even more of chemicals than it already did in the underground, and Jeno scrunched his nose in disgust.

The room looked empty and there were monitoring sounds, stressful and mechanic. Jeno wandered around in search of light brown hair and eventually found it.

Jaemin was there, in front of him, seating cross-legged on a white bed. He was in a sort of concave place in the middle of the monitoring room, with his black jeans and sweater, reading what seemed to be a book. What astounded Jeno was the two needles in both his arms, one drawing blood and one feeding him some white liquid, as well as a metallic sort of bracelet around his right wrist. Jeno understood that bracelet had been the source of the blue pattern Jaemin had on this part of his arm.

The brunette looked as shocked as Jeno when he saw the tall male standing in front of him, his black hair messy and his eyebrows frowned.

"Jeno? What… What are you doing here?” Jaemin was startled to have the tall male in front of him because his location had been kept secret and it was far past bedtime. Jeno looked angry and worried and approached the small room in the middle of the hall. “Don’t! There’s an invisible glass!” Jaemin yelled, but Jeno was too fast and as soon as his hand hit the invisible protection, he was projected five meters afar, his palm hurting like it had been burned. He painfully got up and glanced at Jaemin’s worried eyes.

“What are they doing to you? Why are they keeping you here?” Jeno asked, observing the entire shape of the now apparent glass wall to see any breaks that he could use.

“You have to leave, they’ll hurt you if you don’t!” Jaemin’s tone was pleading; he was scared Jeno would be harshly punished if he stayed here. He was powerful and fit but there was nothing he could do if the NSF threatened him.

“I’m not leaving without you,” Jeno told Jaemin with a decided tone, and as much as Jaemin was worried, these words reached his heart because he felt like someone actually genuinely cared about him. Jeno observed the wall with more precision and asked Jaemin about it.

“You can’t destroy it! They must have had asked someone with a stronger power than us to make this wall because I’ve tried multiple time to break it but it won’t budge at all,” Jaemin declared, eyeing Jeno turn around the wall

Suddenly, a dozen guards entered, firearms in their hands, running towards Jeno and Jaemin’s direction. Jaemin could hear they were worried but ready to fight, and as much as he wanted to panic because the situation was bad for the both of them, he decided to be useful.

The brunette used as much energy he had to control the minds of the soldiers who came and tried to pain them slightly so that they wouldn’t be able to harm Jeno.

They both saw the military men instantly reaching to their heads with grunts of pain and discomfort, and Jeno took this opportunity to project all their weapons on the wall and make them disappear.

Jaemin also tried to get in their minds to find any clue about how to shut down the wall that was surrounding him and making any escape impossible. Usually, the bracelet on his arm prevented him from hearing clearly other people’s thoughts, but Jaemin blamed adrenalin for making him able to hear everyone as clear as he could listen to his own thoughts.

“I’m trying to see if they have anything on how to shut the wall in their mind,” Jaemin screamed to Jeno who was still turning around the now visible wall to find any possibility.

“And you think you can escape like this?” a feminine voice said, and they were both faced with Dr Lana Wisley looking displeased. She had other armed men behind her.

“Let Jaemin go,” Jeno nudged her from his height, looking confident and not intimidated at all.

“I’m afraid it won’t work like this. We are taking care of him for the moment, as you can see,” she explained, trying to put as much determination in her voice as she could. But she actually was frightened. She loathed this situation because as the General told her, it was in their interest not to piss any of the boys. And Jeno looked very, very angry at the moment.

“You call that ‘taking care of’? You're hurting him! You’re confining him in a cage!” Jeno was now yelling at her, approaching the doctor with cautious steps. “You think we are some pieces of meat you can dispose of? If you do, you’re wrong. We can kill you and everyone in this facility only with a finger snap, and you still think you owe us?” the tall male was now borderline threatening, and Jaemin heard Dr Lana’s thoughts were confused, and most of all, frightened. He used his power to erase any violent intent in her, but she was a tough one. He couldn’t erase her memory so that she would leave them, or search her mind for any clue of how to get out of here. She must have had some help from a patient with a sort of shielding power.

“Get out of here, or we will have to hurt you,” she coldly stated to Jeno, indicating to the guards to have their arms prepared. Jaemin feared the worst, but there was nothing he could do. He was too much weakened and his bracelet appeared to have been sucking a lot more energy than it ever did before, to his surprise.

“Let Jaemin _out_ ,” Jeno was still menacing, and Dr Lana nudged the raven-haired, raising her eyebrows. She then planted her eyes in Jaemin’s, and as soon as she did that, the brunette felt an unbearable pain invade his veins and his head. He cried in pain, feeling his knees give up under his weight.

Jeno saw with his two eyes Jaemin looking horribly distressed, falling on the floor and crying because of some pain the doctor might have inflicted to him. He guessed she could control Jaemin’s power with the bracelet the male had on his right wrist, and the vision of the latter’s being tortured, crying for help made adrenalin flow freely in his veins.

“Get out and I’ll leave him be,” the woman explained, knowing this part of the plan was risky but worth it. They had to know to what extent Jeno or Jaemin were ready to save one another. The plan could turn its back on the staff but Lana tried to ignore the risks. Jeno looked like he could burst out of rage any time soon.

Seeing how the tall male didn't look like leaving the room anytime soon, she intensified the bracelet's hold on the brunette. Jaemin screamed in pain once more, grabbing his hand in a desperate measure. Tears were now falling free on his cheeks. For the first time, Jeno felt pure hatred fill his veins.

This wasn’t going to end well.

When he reached his ultimate level of anger, he released all of it against the wall that was separating him from the brunette, and it broke down in a million pieces with one of the loudest noise everyone in the room had ever heard.

Dr Lana looked at the glass pieces with stupor, because the invisible wall had been created by one of their most talented beings, one of the very few that had reached Absolute Stage. All it had taken for Jeno to break it at Advanced Level was hurting Jaemin. She glanced at the mess at her feet with horror. It was worse than what she had expected.

Jeno rushed to Jaemin’s side, and when he reached him, he lowered himself to grab his wrist where the bracelet was draining his energy. With one touch, he destroyed the unbreakable tool, stopping the unbearable pain in Jaemin’s veins to propagate further.

"Jaemin? Jaemin, can you hear me?” he hugged the brunette tightly, feeling his heart was beating but seeing his aura was more transparent than dim. He was badly hurt, and when he crossed his eyes, it confirmed his thought. Jaemin grabbed Jeno’s hand tightly; relieved the pain was gone but exhausted. He had seen how the raven-haired male had broken the walls with little effort, only to save him.

He placed his sight in Jeno’s sharp dark eyes, observing the concerned but determined look in his orbs. They were too immersed in each other’s gazes they didn't feel the needles rushing a sleeping product in their veins.

  
______

When Jaemin woke up, he wondered if it had all been a dream, Jeno saving him, breaking the wall, and Dr Wisley looking troubled. A few minutes after, he gained full consciousness and realized it had not been a dream but the blatant reality.

As soon as he realized that, he felt worried about Jeno. Where was he? Was he hurt? Did the NSF torture him for his actions?

Then, he realizes how strong his link with Jeno actually was, for him to think of him first and not about himself. He was becoming selfless for the raven-haired male and it was troublesome. There definitely was a huge difference between his ‘pre-Jeno’ and ‘post-Jeno’ selves.

Jaemin slightly got up from his lying position and realized he was in a room that looked like the first room he had been put it when he came to the building. What were they going to do with him now? He wasn't handcuffed so it was not as bad as he feared it to be, but not being in his assigned room was a sign something was wrong.

Dr Wisley came in eventually, and she looked as stoic as always. Her thoughts were calm.

“Now you’re awake, I'm taking you to someone. He wants to talk with you and Jeno,” she explained, and the last word was the only one that mattered for the brunette. She was going to bring him to Jeno! He didn't hesitate and got on his feet, putting on his sneakers. He almost fell, feeling dizzy but regained his balance and walked towards Dr Wisley.

She indicated the way, and Jaemin saw a dozen military men escorted him. He might have underestimated the situation, but the only thought occupying his mind was to find Jeno and make sure he was safe and sound.

They reached a room that Jaemin had never been in before, and Dr Wisley told him he had to enter along and that she’d leave him here. Jaemin entered, and discovered a sort of an office, with two chairs and a desk with a bigger one.

And then, his eyes saw a familiar body shape.

“Jeno!”

Jaemin ran to the male’s side, and Jeno did so. As soon as their bodies clashed they hugged tightly, Jeno’s hands-on Jaemin’s waist and the latter’s on Jeno’s neck.

“You’re safe,” Jeno whispered, eyeing Jaemin’s face with a big smile. His eyes still seemed tired and his aura was not back to its bright state but he looked better than what Jeno remembered. Jaemin nodded and seeing Jeno unhurt, as beautiful as usual, made a bright smile appear on his face.

“If I might interrupt the both of you?” an unknown male voice asked, with confidence and diplomacy. They both ended their embrace to face the man who was in front of the desk.

He was a tall, fifty-year-old male with salt and pepper hair and wearing a military uniform. There was an aura of authority coming from him, and Jaemin realized there was a woman with a white blouse and glasses looking at the both of them.

“Please, have a seat,” the man proposed but it sounded more like an order. They did what they had been told, both tensed because of the lack of information of what would happen to them. “I am General Houston, supervisor of this base and responsible in front of the Senate,” he explained, and both Jaemin and Jeno realized he must have been one of the most important people here. He could decide their life and death.

Jaemin had a hard time reading his thoughts and realized he might also be using the same shield Dr Lana Wisely used. “We’ve been observing and testing you for the past week for specific reasons,” he continued. “And the reason for all this testing of the both of you is because we found worrying amounts of power used whenever you were together.”

Jeno and Jaemin looked at each other, remembering the two times the staff had broken in their discussions and accused them of using their powers at stages they were not allowed to. Speaking of which, Jaemin realized Jeno had reached the Master stage overnight, judging from his grey aureole. Him breaking that invisible wall had been impressive, and it had had an impact of his progress.

“We apologize for the false accusation; actually, these power rates were not the usual conscious ones, but more... unconscious ones,” the general added, making Jeno frown his eyebrows. “The rates were going up to strange levels, and we discovered that it was only sparkled because you were of the presence of each other,” he continued, Jaemin wondering what the General’s point was. “And the reason for this is because you are each other’s _soulmate_ ,” he concluded, leaving the two males in a state of stupor.

The NSF base had agreed a couple of days ago to reveal the truth to the two males, because they had too much to gain from the reaction power wise they couldn’t let this opportunity pass, especially considering the future destiny of their unit. Jaemin and Jeno informed, they could fix rules and regular checkups; they had to appear as if they were making concessions with them when they actually were the masters of the game.

Jeno turned his face in Jaemin’s direction, still under the shock of what he’d just heard. Jaemin was his … soulmate? Just like Karolina was Sicheng ’s?

How was that possible? He had never thought of it, but now he had been told the truth, he realized he had had all the symptoms from the beginning. The constant need to be in his presence, to make sure he was safe, the weakness he felt when he saw him smile and the feeling of being whole when being next to him. He had heard a lot about soulmates but he had always thought he had been too carefree and vapid for it to happen to him. And this explained a lot of things, such as the double personality inhabiting him recently.

Jaemin turned his face to be faced with Jeno’s sharp eyes looking at him. He was surprised, if not shocked, invaded by stupor, but a part of him felt …relieved. He had not gone crazy for feeling all he felt for Jeno, for his heart racing like a madman when he looked him or blushing like crazy when Jeno complimented him.

He felt so relieved he almost forgot about the problems this meant because he didn't know a supernatural being could be an other’s soulmate, let alone TWO supernatural beings being each other’s soulmates. He forgot all of this because when he crossed Jeno’s eyes, he saw the latter's was as relieved a he was, and that he had a loving, reassuring look in his beautiful eyes.

“As you may know, this is a bit …special,” the general voice came in what seemed like years later, and the males in front of him tried to regain composure and listen to what he had to say as much as they could in such given situation. “We’ve always had cases when only one supernatural developed the soulmate gene with a normal human being, so it’s all new for us because you both supernatural beings are each other’s soulmates. Your blood samples and attitudes proved it to us,” he explained, and Jaemin understood the reason behind all the blood tests he had had to do in the past weeks. “This is why we have been testing you all these last days, and I apologize if we appeared rude or violent. We don’t know the extent of that this case of soulmates can bring as we are in an unknown territory here. But we’ve decided not to take drastic measures such as separating you or killing you because its against our principles, even though it’s not going to be easy from now on,” and the General was altering with truth and pity-aiming speech which seemed to work on Jeno because he looked like he agreed what the man said. Jaemin looked more doubtful and down to earth to what was being said.

“Are we going to be separated from the rest?” Jaemin asked out of the blue, placing his gaze in the General’s eyes. He had a bad feeling about the man, couldn’t put his finger on what exactly, but he knew the male was up to no good. They'd be better stay as far from him as they could in the near future, that only if they had any future here.

“No, you’re going to go back to your unit and continue your training phases to reach other power stages,” the General also looked at Jaemin whose eyebrows were frowned. “But you’ll have rules to obey to, and if you don’t respect them we will be forced to … use our means to separate you,” and both of them knew it was a threat, and that that man could decide to kill them both on the spot if he wanted to. “But as long as you apply the rules, nothing will change. Maybe the others will act a bit shocked or scared at first but it shall pass,” the general got up, nudging the two males.

“Do you promise us we’ll be safe as long as we obey your rules?” Jeno then asked, wanting to make sure there was no shady arrangement behind this entire situation.

“I swear it on my honour and all my military medals,” the general truly promised. “We won’t need Jaemin anymore the underground, so you’ll both be able to live just like the rest in your unit,” he explained and they both felt reassured by these precisions. “I have to leave, but I’ll be checking on the both of you a few times. Don’t mess up, you are two powerful beings on whom we hold a lot of hopes,” he concluded and went of the room, leaving the two boys with the woman with the white blouse.

“These are the rules you have to obey. Take some time to read them and when you’re done, come out, I’ll make a blood sample of the both of you and then you’ll be free to go back to your units,” she coldly said, and a rapid analysis of her thoughts indicated Jaemin there was no danger outside and that she was saying the truth. They were safe for now.

As soon as the nurse left the room, Jaemin and Jeno went silent, a silence they both needed. They were tired, shocked and relieved of the positive ending of the situation. It could have been worst, but the new possibilities opening in front of them were brand new.

“I guess we didn't see it coming,” Jeno said after a moment, turning his head in Jaemin’s direction, seeing the brunette was staring at him.

“At least, it’s a rather… unexpected turnaround,” Jaemin added. When he thought about it, it had been as if he had always known something special united Jeno and him, without being able to pinpoint what exactly had been different.

Jeno agreed, his eyes still on Jaemin, observing the brunette. Indeed, he had not expected a reversal of situation like theirs, but he wouldn't change it for now. He finally put a finger on why he was so weird around Jaemin and why he felt so attracted to him every time he was around. He didn't know what this whole soulmate thing would bring them in the future, but the feeling that he had not been crazy from the beginning was enough for him to feel reassured and forget the issues to come.

“We are special,” Jaemin mouthed, sending a big smile to Jeno. The raven-haired male gestured him to go to the desk in order to read the rules they were proposed, or rather imposed. Jaemin sat on the edge of the desk, Jeno still standing, leaning on the wooden furniture, and the latter took the piece of paper left for them and placed it so that Jaemin could also read it.

_You now both have reached the master level; you can use your powers outside of the training rooms._  
_However, if the staff tells you to lower the intensity or stop using a specific power, you have to obey the order without complaining._  
_If you feel your power getting out of hand or too strong, you have to notice a member of the staff immediately. Any use of power that voluntarily hurt or destroy will be punished._  
_Unlike regular soulmates relations, you are allowed to be around one another without restrictions of time if not the usual curfew ones._  
_Any physical contact could be forbidden if we notify you so._  
_When training, you must try to put aside any emotional aspect. This means that you shouldn't do favours to one another in a power fight or practice. Any attitude of the sort will result in short-term punishment._  
_Don’t isolate yourselves from the others in the unit; if we feel you don’t try to have links with other members, we will limit your time together._  
_If you apply all these rules without troubles, we might consider making them more flexible._

Jaemin read the paper faster than Jeno, and the feeling of being once more treated like a child or a criminal invading his veins. He saw Jeno was still reading it, his eyelashes resting on his cheeks.

He had expected worse; according to the rules, they would be able to live a ‘normal’ life but there were so many rules and the feeling of been oppressed was indeed present. Having been only noticed a few minutes ago of the nature of their relation, Jaemin couldn't imagine what all these rules would mean in the future, but he understood they would be under strict supervision and their movements would be restrained.

“It’s not as bad as I expected it to be,” Jeno muttered, feeling more optimistic than the brunette. The thought he wouldn't have to be kept far from Jaemin and had more margin of movement than the usual being with a soulmate was sufficient to make him happy. However, he couldn’t really project himself in what this all meant. It still was too fresh, and everything seemed like it could satisfy him as long as they made it safe and sound.

“I feel like this is not entirely in our advantage, but it’s better than what I thought,” Jaemin responded, and Jeno nodded. They were close to each other, Jaemin’s knee close to Jeno’s waist, and the brunette instinctively placed his head in the crook of Jeno’s neck, feeling the securing electrical tingling invade his crane and his cheek. Jeno didn't seem to mind and all had the reflex to place his hand on Jaemin’s in a securing gesture. It felt like now they did know what disease they had, they were freed of any taboo or restrain around each other. It felt natural. “We’ll be fine,” he concluded and he felt Jaemin hum in his neck.

Both of them went out of the office a minute after, founding the nurse who indicated Jaemin to go for his blood test, Jeno waiting for him outside the room arranged to be an infirmary. Jeno went in half an hour later and in an hour, everything was set. The nurse checked the data and agreed that everything was fine with both of them, that they had all the documents needed to keep track of both of them.

“So the others know about… us?” Jaemin asked their escort that was bringing them to the ground level, and she nodded. They had been noticed the morning prior to this and also threatened to be punished if they secluded the two males. One of the biggest goals of the NSF right now was to bond all them together so that they could pass to the second part of their project. It was bound to happen soon, but group cohesion was needed at first.

_______

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aaand we're halfway through the fic ~  
> this is a little fill-in, fluffy chapter but this can't be all angst and action, right?  
> things are going to speed up after this so enjoy the softness haha  
> enjoy ~

**Part 4**

 

That night, Jaemin dreamt of Jeno; rather, he dreamt that his soulmate was deadly hurt and was dying in his arms without Jaemin being able to do anything. The nightmare had made Jaemin wake up, sweaty and borderline hysteric until he realized everything had been the fruit of his imagination.

Dreaming of Jeno was new, and the brunette wondered if his usual death scene nightmares weren’t better than the image of seeing Jeno dying.

Both of them had had no choice but to part when they arrived in the familiar corridors of the upper building because the sun had set for long and the rules were the rules. They both had to go in their respect rooms' and as much as Jaemin wanted to act confident, it broke his heart.

The brunette sat on his bed, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. Turning on the small lamp on his bed table, he took some time to think, the first time since all that happened to the both of them.

They had developed the soulmate gene one on another; it meant that Jeno considered him just like Sicheng considered Karolina; however, Jaemin was not Karolina in this situation but Sicheng as well. The general had said it had never happened before in their unit, and this meant that no one knew what this whole event truly meant and what it could bring.

He had also added, and the rules illustrated it, that their powers were nourished in the presence of the other. Jaemin remembered reading this in the book about the Soulmate process, about how the person with powers saw them grow drastically in the presence of his soulmate. But in their case, would their respective powers increase when they were together? That might have been the reason why the rules explained they must be careful of the rates their powers could reach.

The good news was that Jaemin was now free of his underground prison; he glanced at his wrist which still was a bit blue because of the power draining bracelet, and sigh, placing his chin on his hands.

The situation wasn’t bad; they would make it alive and had little rules to follow considering the dangers the NSF was taking with them. But Jaemin feared his own self; he could  _feel_  how much he cared for his soulmate. He could now put words on his condition but was scared that his new gene could take over any rational intent he had had. He had seen how blind Sicheng was to the rest of the boys here and felt if he had to choose between killing them all and killing Karolina, the male wouldn't hesitate a second.

Would Jaemin end up like this, blinded by love and passion?

The feeling he wasn’t fully in control of his own mind and body was disturbing. As much as he enjoyed being around Jeno and as much as having someone he could always count on was brought him joy, he prayed his soulmate wouldn't make him a whole new person.

______ 

 

“This is the most fucked up news I heard since I’m here, and I’ve been through a lot of weird things,” Ten exclaimed, looking at Doyoung and Renjun who were staring at him, waiting for more explanations.

Morning had come, and everyone was talking about the news they had been told yesterday before curfew. Jeno was Jaemin’s soulmate; a supernatural being developing a soulmate gene on a supernatural being, it was bad enough. But Jaemin was also Jeno’s soulmate, which made the situation twice worse.

Everyone in the unit had expected the two of them to be good friends and to the worst extent seclude themselves from the rest, but being  _soulmates_? Loving each other to the largest extents? No one saw it coming and even Taeyong and Mark had been shocked when the staff gave them the news. But they had also been told they mustn’t act as if anything happened, and that any tentative of exclusion of the two males would result in punishment.

“And what do they expect us to do? They both could kill us if we looked at one of them wrong, how are we supposed to welcome them with open arms,” Ten added, feeling exhausted by all of this. As much as hated having some negative feeling about people, he truly feared the new couple now and their powerful extents.

“I think that if we received rules, they also must have,” Doyoung said, being very pragmatic, and Renjun nodded.

Doyoung and Renjun had been transferred from the underground three days ago, in the midst of the turmoil, and they had had to adjust fast to the recent issues.

Renjun was a small, skinny male born in the same year than Jeno, Jaemin and Haechan, with dark brown hair and sparkling eyes. He possessed a healing power which he had recently discovered and represented an undeniable talent for the group. He was pragmatic, down to earth and had a kind nature. Doyoung, on the other hand, was a tall male with very pale skin and pushed back black hair. He had a very reassuring smile that could turn into a stoic expression; however, he had a nice personality. Gifted with the power of strength, he had been able to break the floor of the practice room.

“I agree, I’m sure they have been given rules too,” Renjun nodded, feeling that Ten was exaggerating things and that the situation couldn’t be as horrible as he explained. Indeed, even if everyone had been taken aback because of the news, nobody except Ten has still being loud about it; Haechan was calmly playing with the lights, laying on the couch, and the others were already sleeping, practising or wandering around.

“Whatever, I’m kind of scared to hang out with them now, I’d like to stay alive this second life,” Ten said with a defensive tone, and Doyoung rolled his eyes whereas Renjun smiled politely. Even if their death was recent, they both had more composure than the feline eyed male in front of them.

They continued to eat their breakfast and Haechan joined them for a second one, claiming using his power made him starve. Ten rolled his eyes and Renjun left the spot next to him for the sunkissed male.

When Haechan was handed his freshly made French Toast, he saw everyone turned to the stairs leading to the kitchen; Jaemin was there, going down the stairs, looking as if nothing happened. Renjun and Doyoung observed the tall brunette walking towards them; he didn't look like as dangerous as they both heard he was, a bit tired but mostly kind-looking.

Ten, not knowing what to do, tried not to look at Jaemin, whereas, out of nowhere, Haechan ran to the brunette.

"Jaemin! I’ve been worried about you!” he exclaimed, pulling the brunette for a warm and friendly embrace. Jaemin felt like he had missed something; he had woken up and decided to see for himself how bad the situation was, and apart from the scared glare he received from Ten and the two unknown persons eating next to him, he felt nothing had changed. “Are you alright?” the brunette asked, looking at Jaemin’s face, the later nodding with a big smile.

Haechan had always felt guilty for leaving Jaemin alone and without notice because of his fear of the brunette’s power; he had been a bit of a follower of people’s move to stay away from him, and every day he had regretted this choice.

“I’m happy to see you,” Jaemin answered, and Haechan smiled back to him, his eyes creasing a bit. Jaemin couldn't help but read his friend’s thoughts, only to be faced with all the guilt and the now positive feeling he had for Jaemin; which one glance, he indicated Haechan he understood and had no worries to have. “I missed you,” the brunette indicated, and Haechan smiled once more, taking Jaemin’s hand and leading him to the two newcomers.

“This is Renjun and Doyoung, they have joined us a couple of days ago,” Haechan introduced, and the two new males smiled to Jaemin. “This is Jaemin,” he added and the brunette sent them back a genuine smile. “Renjun has the power of healing, which is pretty dope, and Doyoung has strength, he can destroy the ground in no time,” Haechan claimed.

“That’s so cool,” Jaemin exclaimed, sitting next to Haechan and Renjun, feeling Ten’s eyes on him. Renjun asked him about his power. ”I can use telepathy and see the future sometimes, but nothing spectacular,” he admitted, being handed his usual morning coffee.

“Are you kidding? This is so great,” Renjun almost shouted. “Can you read my mind?” he added, and Jaemin nodded, feeling positive feelings from the smaller male in front of him.

_Can he really read my mind? I might want to control what I think though…_

_I can hear you_ , Jaemin said in Renjun’s mind and the male almost fell off his chair

«Wow! That’s an amazing power,” Renjun added, impressed by the powers. “If you need any healing, don’t hesitate to ask me. My power sucks for now, but I’m sure there’s something I can do for you,” he explained and Jaemin nodded. He had a good feeling with the smaller male, who inspired him no worry or negativity.

Jaemin felt relieved most people didn't seem to mind about the recent events, and just were very tired because of practice and worried about the evolution of their powers. Only Ten had negative emotions in his mind, but Jaemin used his power to lower the tone of Ten’s voice when he heard it so that it was almost silent.

“I just got my Master stage, and I'm already lacking so much during practice,” Haechan complained.

“At least you have a good stage, I’m only at the Basic stage,” Doyoung responded, sighing. “I heard it depends a lot of the person and not really efforts put,” he added, and Renjun and Jaemin nodded, having also been told the same thing by Taeyong.

“I heard Jeno’s already at the Master stage now, Jaemin is that true?” Haechan innocently inquired, and the brunette felt relieved his friend did not seem to make a great deal of the ‘soulmate business’; so did the two new recruits of the unit.

“He is. I still wonder how he does it, three months after being here. It took me a year to get it,” Jaemin sighed too, followed by Haechan.

“Life’s unfair, he could give us a bit of his power so that I could finally dream of not being the only lacklustre here,” Haechan pouted, and it made everyone laugh around the table.

They finished their breakfast altogether, talking about their latest practice and the powers they wished to gain. Somehow, Ten ended up opening up, joining the conversation without any animosity. Jaemin felt joyful of the reactions of the four males, and the fact that he finally felt part of the group and wasn't considered as a monster filled his heart with happiness

“Are you really fine? You look tired,” Haechan asked Jaemin when they were heading to the library together to hang out a bit. The brunette could see Jaemin had lost a bit of weight and had purplish eye bags under his large brown eyes.

“I’m tired for sure, but nothing to worry about,” Jaemin smiled back, loving the smell of old books and wood in the library of the facility. It had traditional books, books about powers and their second wife which led everyone here to guess the supernatural powers were not something that recent, after all. Studies and analysis had been made on the subject since the 1970's.

“It must be… frightening, what is happening, isn't it? Dr Wisley told us it had never happened to them before,” Haechan asked, sitting on a chair while Jaemin chose the wooden table.

“It’s… exciting in some ways. I’m not scared,” Jaemin smiled, observing Haechan’s yellow-green aura.

“I’m sorry for … leaving you. I shouldn’t have, but I sort was gullible and felt scared of you even though I realized it was stupid. I’m really…” Haechan stared, but Jaemin placed his hand on his.

“It’s fine, really. I allowed myself to listen to your thoughts about this and I entirely forgive you,” Jaemin explained, and far from being frightened his friend had read his thoughts, the tanned boy nodded, glad not to have to express itself out loud. Having his thoughts read was easier than expressing genuine feelings with words, he felt

“Oh, who do we have here,” a voice suddenly said, and Jaehyun appeared in between the two males, almost making them have a heart attack. Jaehyun was at the Master stage now so he could teleport whenever he wanted and wherever within the building.  “It’s been a long time, Jaemin,” he said, nudging the brunette with a smile.

"Jaehyun!” Jaemin hugged the male he hadn't seen in a while; he had wondered why he disappeared. First, he thought Jaehyun was just too hard to find since Jaemin was not 24/7 in the upper building. But reading Jaehyun’s thoughts made it clear; Jaehyun had used his power to try to run away. Jaemin also understood the male didn't want this fact to be spread, so he decided on not talking about it out loud.

"Hey, keep the PDA for Jeno,” Jaehyun laughed, and Haechan couldn’t help but chuckle. Jaehyun sometimes had a sarcastic nature, and Jaemin flashed him a big smile. “Never thought you’d pull a Sicheng on us,” Jaehyun added, seating on the wooden table. Jaemin saw he had a little bandage on his neck.

_What did they do to you?_ he mentally asked.

_They put an electronic device in my neck that prevents me from leaving the electric shield of the base_ , Jaehyun answered, used to Jaemin talking mentally to him. It was better for him anyway, because no one else than the two males could hear it.

“I feel like we’re about to get tons of new dirty jokes,” Jaehyun sighed, and it made Jaemin laugh.

“You have no idea, I have so many I could write a book of dirty jokes and it would get published in this very library,” Haechan snickered.

“Don’t you dare do that to me,” Jaemin complained, feeling like he did a year and a half ago when his friendship with Haechan and Jaehyun had been at its apogee and he felt whole.

Now he felt even better than whole.

__________

 

“Do you think there’s a link between me not being able to hear your thoughts and the soulmate thing?” Jaemin asked Jeno a couple of days after. They were in the gardens once more, under the pagoda where they had first met, and were enjoying the heat and the sunlight. Both of them had decided to let things go their own way, and not to push anything; they both understood their actions around each other did not fully depend on their own will but on a strong, unknown force they might never be fully able to grasp.

“Maybe, since it has only happened with me,” Jeno answered, his hand on Jaemin’s while the brunette had his eyebrows furrowed. The raven-haired male was doing fine with the situation and the freedom they were given, but the fact they had to be ‘closer’ to the others was the only thing bothering him.

Had he been the only one taking decisions here, he’d spend all of his days with Jaemin and no one else, denying his outgoing nature. But he knew that the NSF wanted group cohesion, so he tried his best to hang out with Taeyong or Mark when Jaemin was spending time with others. They also tried to be together in spaces when the others were reading or eating to show their good intentions.

Jeno felt Taeyong, Ten and Mark were doubtful and wary of the situation of Jaemin and Jeno, and the brunette confirmed it to him when reading their thoughts; it wasn’t really a surprise. Jeno was sure he would have reacted the same way if the situation had been reversed.

“Does it bother you?” Jeno playfully asked, looking at Jaemin who indeed had been very frustrated not to hear Jeno.

“It does, but it’s also relaxing in a way,” he answered, placing his head on Jeno’s shoulder.  It felt so natural the young male didn't even realize it anymore when he had intimate gestures with Jeno. “Your aura is the only thing which tells me what you feel,” he pouted and Jeno chuckled.

“Welcome to the life of those who can’t read other’s thoughts,” he answered, looking at Jaemin’s pink silver-ish aura, receiving a small blow on his leg. “I don’t think there’s much I can do to make you hear me,” he sighed, and Jaemin furrowed his brows.

“Can I try something?” he asked, rotating a bit to be in front of Jeno, cross-legged.

“Why do I feel like I’m about to die for the second time,” Jeno rolled his eyes and Jaemin looked mad. “Just kidding, suit yourself,” he added, cupping Jaemin’s cheeks with a big smile. It also felt very natural for him, all the gestures, and almost… instinctive. Like he needed to be close to Jaemin to feel whole; Jeno could also feel he was gaining strength every time he did so.

“Close your eyes,” Jaemin induced him, placing on hand on Jeno’s now free hand and another on his cheek.

Jaemin closed his eyes and concentrated on the palm contact that was giving him tingling feelings, and the waves of Jeno’s and his power flowing around. If he had to be left out of Jeno’s thoughts, maybe there was something he could do to at least feel connected to him.

The brunette felt tiny waves of power flowing from his palms to Jeno’s and concentrated on what his mind was doing.

  _Can you hear me?_

 His thoughts were unanswered, and Jaemin tried harder; he could feel Jeno’s energetic intent was a strong, heavy one but which seemed to bend under Jaemin’s power waves. There might have been a way…

  _Jaemin?_

Jeno’s voice came to Jaemin’s ears without him seeing the male open his eyes or his mouth. Waves of joy and accomplishment filled him.

  _Jeno! You can hear me?_

_I can, it’s… as clear as if you were talking to me_ , Jeno answered, his eyes still closed, as he hasn’t moved at all.

_This is called mind talking. It’s a way of communication through thoughts, which no one except us can hear. It’s rather… natural, as long as you want to communicate your thoughts with me and I also do, we can talk like this_ , Jaemin explained, and Jeno opened his eyes when Jaemin’s palms left his hand and cheek. 

_This is … great_ , Jeno smiled when he said this and Jaemin did so.

“Let’s use normal speech for... non-compromising stuff,” he laughed, looking at Jeno’s eyes. “I’m glad I succeed at least in this,” Jaemin smiled, observing the rays of the sun shining through the leaves of the forest.

  _Using this we can mock people without them hearing us_ , the brunette added and Jeno laughed at loud.

  _I didn't know you were actually mean_ , he looked at Jaemin, his eyes creasing in laughter.

 ______

 

Two months flew after that, without any of the Unit noticing how fast time was passing. They all were falling a strict schedule of resting-practising, whereas other members joined them, including Taeil. Taeil was a small, average sized male gifted with the power of electricity, and brought positivity and laughter to the group. He was funny and got along with most people in the unit, even though the usually socially reluctant males didn't bother with him.

 Most of them all gained a stage, and the one who had the best score had been Taeyong, with his impressive Ultimate stage that everyone envied. He could now stop powers of some of the most powerful persons in other units. The newly arrived males had gained their Advanced stages a couple of days before Jeno reached the Ultimate stage too.

He had reached it completely without even feeling it coming; it had been a day he went with Jaemin and his best friend Haechan to the swimming pool of the building on a hot summer day. Jaemin hated swimming so he remained on the side of the pool, wearing an oversized white shirt and jean shorts. The brunette had remained there, calves and feet in the water while Haechan tried to see how much water he could throw out of the pool by every jump he made. Jeno was just swimming around, occasionally glancing at Jaemin who brightly smiled at him.

Jaehyun had appeared and scared the hell out of the sunkissed male, who fell in the water with a huge splash.

“You’ve managed to empty like half the pool with that jump!” Jaemin screamed, becoming a laughing mess. His hair was now a messy wet-dry mess and his tee shirt and shorts were tainted with water drops. Jeno was dying laughing and Haechan used his power of blinding to make Jaehyun fall in the water the next step he did.

The glare the elder gave the tanned male was no good, and they ended up chasing one another in the water, Jaehyun even at his Master stage not being able to teleport in water or fluids.

“Considering the strength of both their powers, they’re still kids,” Jeno remarked, coming over the border of the swimming pool where Jaemin was sitting. He looked so ethereal, with his messy brunette hair and lightly tanned skin Jeno could feel his power becoming stronger just by looking at his soulmate.

“I’d even say toddlers,” Jaemin added when Jeno came to him, placing his wet bare arms and head on his thighs and shorts. Jeno had an amazing fit body, and Jaemin observed the view of the raven-haired male’s upper body he had in the position they both were with a smile. “You’re going to wet me,” he complained, seeing droplets of water for Jeno’s messy hair taint the white shirt he was wearing. Jeno didn’t bother and shook his head on Jaemin’s shorts messily

_Damn you!_ he tried to act bothered.

_Sure, sure_ , Jeno’s voice was mocking him even in his mind.

Jaemin pouted, and it was all it took for Jeno to grab his cheek and with one straight movement to kiss Jaemin’s lips for a couple of seconds. The brunette’s lips tasted a bit sugary, whereas Jeno’s mouth was hot and had a fresh feeling to it. Jaemin immediately responded to the kiss, placing his hand on Jeno’s hand that was resting on his cheek, and they felt the tingling feeling intensify to the extent it became pleasurable.

They both realized their first kiss had been strong, loving and powerful. They had never kissed before that, not feeling the need already, but as time was passing, their desires also were. A voice in their heads reminded them that the NSF could forbid them anytime soon to kiss anymore, but they ignored it.

They had to break the kiss when Jeno felt the water moving around him, and when he opened his eyes back and looked around, he realized water in the pool was creating small waves as if they had been at sea. Jaemin’s brown eyes were amazed at the sight until he saw Haechan looking curious and Jaehyun with a smile on his face. 

“Keep it for the bedroom, look at how shook the water is because of you two!” Jaehyun exclaimed and Jaemin pulled his tongue at him.

His eyes eventually went back to Jeno, observing him, the way he looked so ethereal and how his eyelashes touched his cheeks every time he blinked. Jeno was truly the most gorgeous person he had ever seen.

_What is it_? he heard Jeno’s voice ask.

_You’re so beautiful_ , Jaemin answered, grabbing his hand and interlacing their fingers.

Jeno flashed him one of his infamous pretty smiles and his aura oscillating between silver and pink. The brunette’s eyes then looked at Jeno’s aureola that had changed colour.

«Jeno! You’ve reached another stage!” Jaemin exclaimed, and the two other males heard it too. They approached the couple on the side, the water having calmed a few seconds after they stopped kissing. Indeed, Jeno’s aureola was not grey anymore but silver, a bright and blinding silver that almost sparkled.

“Can’t wait to get me a soulmate as to finally pass this damn Master stage,” Haechan sighed, observing how, indeed, Jeno had reached another stage.

Jeno must admit he felt… almighty. Like he could destroy the building or create another one if he had wanted to. He knew it was not only due to Jaemin’s presence but Haechan was right, he had passed a stage mostly because of the brunette. He felt powerful.

____

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we're more than halfway through the fic now and it's going to go crescendo now~ 
> 
> i also added a tiny make-out scene, idk if i should put a tw since it's nothing heavy and by no mean a smut but i know some people are not fond of it so if you don't like make-out scenes don't read the last part of the chapter (from the _____).
> 
> enjoy :D

**Part 5**

 

Then, the rules changed.

The NSF decided that the unit had now enough members to fully function, with different and powerful supernatural gifts. Now that they all had nearly reached Master stage and more, it was time for them to enter the second phase of the project. 

They had all been gathered in a new place all of them had never been to, which was a sort of huge, round arena. It looked as much futuristic as it reminded them of bullrings. There, General Houston, Dr Lana Wisely and three other people who introduced themselves as being supernatural beings, as well as their future teachers had greeted them.

Stefen was a forty years old German male whose power was to creating shields; they all understood he was the one who protected the building with the electric shield preventing them from leaving. He was as well the mastermind behind the protection of the minds of various important people in the facility. He was at the Absolute Stage, while the woman next to him was at the Ultimate one. She was called Madison and had the power of illusions, making people dizzy as much as she wanted. Lastly, there was Gregory, an old looking male who was said to have been the third supernatural being to have woken up. His power was linked with the Sun.

“You’re now all entering the training phase; not alone anymore, but in between yourselves and with your three teachers. The goals are to develop not only your powers and their scope but also your physical abilities and fighting methods,” Dr Lana had explained, and it had shocked all the males present in front of her. “You’ll have weekly exams, the ones who perform the best will have a reward and the ones who do the worst will have punishment,” she added, and the feeling of being back to nursing school filled the males.

“You will have power training, physical exercises and meditation every week, and the exams will take place on Saturday afternoons. Your Sundays will be free,” she added, and they all understood their schedules were bond to become hectic. “Your training groups depend on the stage you currently are; one class per stage and physical training are random,” she added. Jeno glanced at Jaemin with sad eyes, realizing his Ultimate stage was impeding him from practising with the brunette.

After that, they all were allowed to go back to the building, a schedule in hand. Jeno and Jaemin sat in the living’s room sofa, reading what had been given to them.  
 _This doesn’t feel right_ , Jeno sounded worried.  
 _I know. I tried to read their minds to see what the actual purpose of all this was, but the man who creates shields blocked me_ , Jaemin explained, his hand interlaced with Jeno's hand and one of his soulmate's thighs on his lap.  
 _They want to train us like soldiers, but what for? What do they want us to fight?_ Jeno’s inner monologue reached Jaemin.  
 _One day or another we’ll know why,_ he concluded, placing a kiss along Jeno’s neck to try to appease him. It made Jeno’s aura switch from dark blue to silver.

They read their schedules furthermore, and Jaemin saw that he had indeed power training with the other Master stages -Haechan, Jaehyun and Jungwoo amongst others- whereas Jeno was bound to train with the Ultimates -Taeyong and Mark-; but he observed with relief he had put in the same physical training group as Jeno, along with Renjun and Taeyong. Most of his days were cut in halves, between training and leisure, and so did Jeno’s.

“Our physical ‘teacher’ is the one who can create shields,” Jeno remarked. “I guess it’s not random,” he added, and Jaemin nodded with a solemn look on his face. They both knew something was wrong with the position the NSF adopted, and they did not only train them for the pleasure of having all of them fit and occupied.

Indeed, they realized the next day it was going to be a rough time.

They were having their first physical training and realized it was going to be military-like; their teacher was indeed intense, looking at them with a smirk, whereas he was accompanied by a nurse from the Scientific Department and a male in a military uniform.

As soon as all four of them were in front of the three persons, Jaemin couldn’t hear anyone’s thoughts anymore, neither the supernatural beings nor the regular humans. He glanced at Jeno worryingly, trying to talk to his via their minds but failing miserably 

“You are now unable to use your powers, and this because of the shield I have just created. Unless you develop some sort of power stronger than mine to destroy this shield, you will have to bid goodbye to your gifts when you train with me,” he explained with a cold tone and Jaemin felt reassured not to have been reduced to a mere mortal for no reason. “I’m going to make you stronger, physically, so that you’ll all be able to be confronted to all sorts of situations in the future,” he added, glaring at all of them.

The four males had the same instinct in wanting to ask the man what were there ‘future situations’, but both decided to keep it low for the moment. That teacher didn't look like a kind man, and the brunette guessed that he would have seen a purple aura around him if he could still see auras.

“Our first sessions will be a physical ability test to see how fit you are and on which points I need to work with all you. You’ll have a final test when I decide it’s time, and all I can tell you is that you better prepare for it,” he concluded, leaving Jaemin, Jeno, Renjun and Taeyong worried.

They were faced with what Stefen explained as being an “obstacle course”, which they all observed with an undisclosed fear and worry. It looked like one of these courses people in the army did again and again, and they all understood this one was a step closer to making them perfect soldiers. 

“This obstacle course consists of multiple steps; the first one is the wall climb where you have to jump on a 9-foot wall and climb it to go the other side, followed by Shutter Step Tires, then Cargo net Crawling. After that, you have to do a couple of Overs and Unders, before going for the Balance Beam and the Low Hurdles. Lastly, you’ll need to climb 12 feet rope to be able to validate your chronometer. The one that gets the best time will have an advantage for next time,” Stefen explained, glaring at the four males as if he was enjoyed all too much seeing them look at the course obstacles with disgust. It was his job for more than five years to train new supernatural beings and he was one of the most dedicated workers of the entire NSF base.

He was not going to make it easy for them.

“We’re starting with an age-based order,” he explained, taking a seat far from the sun, chronometer in hand. They saw Taeyong at the starting point, and Jeno and Jaemin took a spot under the huge weeping willow, a few meters from their tormentor. Renjun stood next to the obstacle course, looking worried.

 “I knew it, I shouldn't have worn jeans today,” Jaemin sighed, wondering how the hell he was going to make it alive from the obstacle course. Fuck the time, he thought, he will just try to end up in one piece. Jeno felt his worry and held his hand tight; the familiar electric feeling appeared. Shields couldn't do anything against the soulmate gene.

“I would gladly have used my power to create some new clothes for you, but this shield… it’s powerful,” Jeno looked up at the completely bare sky.

“You two!” they heard Stefen call them from his seat, and they both turned heads in his direction, waiting to be scolded because they took a seat while their unit member would be suffering in a few minutes. “I’ve been told about you two; if any of you, by whatever means you could find to counter this shield help the other, I’ll have you both do the obstacle course ten times in front of each other, you’ve heard this?” he said with a cold, calculating tone.

Jaemin nodded vividly, the thought of doing the course over and over and even more, seeing Jeno doing it making him want to vomit. His soulmate rolled his eyes and held Jaemin’s hand tighter. 

Taeyong started, and the three other supernatural beings feared for him twice or thrice; he almost broke his neck on the Balance Beam by falling miserably and hit his face on the Low Hurdles. Other than that, he was quite good and finished with 4 minutes and 35 seconds on the chronometer.

Jaemin frowned his eyebrows, the sun seeping in between some leaves when Renjun started. He was less tall than Taeyong and skinnier, so he was advantaged in some obstacles but disadvantaged in others. He had to take 3 takes to climb the first wall but managed the others well, though a bit slower than Taeyong. Renjun also had a hard time with the balance beam, falling a couple of times, and had much hassle with the final rope. When he finished, Stefen yelled ‘6 minutes and 17 seconds’ and they all applauded him. Renjun had given its all, they all must have admitted.

Jaemin applauded him as well but felt worried because it now was Jeno’s turn and he feared his soulmate would get hurt. Jeno sent him a reassuring smile and passed his hand in Jaemin’s hair before stepping forward the first wall. Jaemin observed how ethereal he was, his face appearing sharper under the sun and his long legs dressed with khaki cargo pants -Jeno had been more cautious than Jaemin-.

When Stefen yelled ‘Go!’ Jaemin saw Jeno run so fast he almost missed him departing. He then jumped agilely on the wall, grabbing the upper part and rolling on the other side. The raven hair passed the tires without any problems and crawled under the net on his back, grabbing the material to be faster. Jaemin was fascinated by how fast and gracious his soulmate was, and this for every obstacle he passed.

Jeno continued with the Over’s and Under’s, passing them with a shocking speed, and pursued with the Balance Beam; Jaemin felt he would keep balance because of his thin fit frame, and indeed speed took gravity by surprise as he gracefully passed the obstacle. His foot got caught in one of the Low Hurdles and the raven-haired male didn't fall either, keeping his balance the second after. Lastly, he made the rope looking easy to climb, reaching the other side a matter of a dozen seconds. The chronometer stopped and their professor yelled '2 minutes and 43 seconds’ which had the benefit to put a big smile on Jeno’s face.

Jaemin gladly applauded his soulmate who came back to his side; he passed his hand in his messy black hair.

“You were so good!” Jaemin exclaimed, placing a kiss on Jeno’s lips but breaking it as soon because of the fear their professor would catch them in the act. “Where did you learn all of this?" 

“In my past life, sports classes in high school,” Jeno responded with a big smile, feeling achievement fill him when seeing how proud of him Jaemin was.

The brunette realized it was now his turn, and he didn't know if he could even finish the obstacle course. He had never been amazing at sports but not bad either, being chosen after all the best ones at school but before all the weakest ones.

He saw Jeno giving him an encouraging look, muttering a “you can do it!” while stroking his cheek, and Jaemin faked a smile and reached the first obstacle. At that point, his jeans ripping was the least of his problem, and the brunette tried to calm down and establish the distance he’d need to run if he wanted to grab a wall which appeared almost twice as tall as he was.

And as soon as he heard Stefen scream ‘Go’ for him, Jaemin ran like he was chased by zombies, hoping he wouldn’t trip and be able to grab the wall. He jumped a couple of centimes before it, and successfully managed the grab the upper part of it. He tried to lift his body on the other side and succeeded in doing so, but he fell 2 meters below, having underestimated the distance from the ground. His back hurt the ground with a thud. Jaemin wanted to scream or take his time to rest for a couple of minutes, but he knew he had still a lot of obstacles. He feared the more he laid on the floor, the more he’d be tempted to give up. 

The brunette painfully got up and ran through the tires without any major problem if not being dizzy and almost missing two of them because of it. He managed well and even though he was not supposed to feel this with the shield he could sense Jeno’s worry. It was weird but he was too focused on his race to think about it.

He rolled on the floor in front of the crawling net, and tried Jeno’s technique, tightly grabbing the net and lighting himself up like this. He felt the rough material of the net hurting his hands, but used on his arms and legs in order to make it alive out of this obstacle. His hair was a mess when he finally got up and ran to the Over and Unders'. The Overs' were easy because of his height, but the under were harder for the same reason. Overly the obstacle had been the easiest he did, even though he lost quite some time on it. 

The brunette saw the dreaded Balance Beam but this was so easy he surprised himself when he realized he was done with it; it had been one the thing he was the best at in high school, as agility was his forte. But the Low Hurdles were more tricky, as he knew he had to run over time. Jaemin went back for a couple of meters and jumped into the lion’s den. The two first ones were good, but as his soulmate did, Jaemin’s foot got caught on the third Hurdle and he fell, his head hitting the next one with another thud. The male felt dizzy and saw stars for a couple of seconds, before getting up once more, determined. He didn't know how he could feel so decided and why his body didn't hurt as much as it should have, but he passed on the last obstacle.

He had always been lame for rope climbing despite his height and fit body, and Jaemin decided to jump to try to grab the highest part possible to list himself. His height indeed was an advantage, and he decided to follow Jeno’s technique, pushing with his legs, which worked pretty well; he reached the top of the obstacle without any major problem but with sore arms, and was faced with the other side. Everyone had jumped, but Jaemin saw there were roughly two meters to jump and felt scared.

He hesitated for a couple of seconds, feeling uncomfortable at that height and jumped, trying to land on his feet. He did quite graciously, and the relief of the course being over led to the stress about his chronometer.

“5 minutes and 9 seconds,” the professor yelled, making Jaemin want to scream out of joy because he had done it! He did not die, got hurt or gave up, and a sense of accomplishment filling him.

He turned in order to go back to his original spot and saw Jeno was running towards him. When he reached him in a matter of seconds, he grabbed his hands tightly, a worried look on his face.

“Jaemin, are you ok?” Jeno was panicking and the brunette wondered what could be wrong. He had fallen a couple of times but he was fine, at least he felt like it. “You’re bleeding!” the taller male added, patting his long fingers on Jaemin’s temple, and they ended up bright red, a metallic smell invading his nostrils.

Jeno’s eyebrows were furrowed, and he gestured Renjun to come. Their teacher seemed to understand and in a matter of seconds, Jaemin could hear back everyone but Jeno’s thoughts and see their auras. His soulmate's aura was a bright orange-yellow, a sign he was worried. 

He tried to make Jaemin sit on the grass, and the brunette now realized his back was hurting like hell and he really felt dizzy, under the sun. Jeno’s face was becoming more and more blurry, and he could see his soulmate told him something he couldn’t hear. The boy fainted in Jeno’s arms. 

He woke up a couple of minutes after Renjun had finished making a bandage for his now almost healed wound. The first thing he saw was Jeno’s beautiful sharp eyes, his eyebrows frowned in fear for his soulmate.

It took some minutes for Jaemin to resume his mind, but he managed to flash a reassuring smile to Jeno and mutter an “I’m fine” when the male helped him get up, a hand on his shoulder and one on his waist. Renjun told him he was going to be ok, and Jaemin thanked him, while their teacher approached.

“If you faint like this on the first class, you’re not going to last long here,” he snickered, looking at the tall but weakened male in front of him. The latter felt waves of power emanating from Jeno’s palm holding his, and he squeezed it tight. “We have class in two days, don’t bother coming if you think you’ll end up like today,” he concluded and then walked away from his students.

“What an asshole,” Renjun snickered and then turned back to Jaemin. “Don’t worry, you know how these military guys are, strict and expressionless. He hides behind his shields so that we don’t stand a chance against him,” he added, and Jaemin nodded.

“It's fine, I don’t mind him,” He assured and Renjun flashed him a smile before waving the couple goodbye and going back the building.

Jeno turned back to Jaemin, both of his hands on the latter's cheeks, seeing blood had started to fill the bandage. He thought Renjun had healed Jaemin, but either the younger’s wound was more severe than they thought, or Renjun still had progress to make. In both cases, Jeno was mad worried.

Jaemin didn’t seem to feel it and placed his hands on Jeno’s, nearing his face and placing a kiss on his lips to ease him just like he knew it generally worked. When he backed to look at his beautiful soulmate, Jeno looked surprised.

_The blood… Your wound had started to bleed a second ago, and it’s gone now_ , Jeno sounded confused.

Jaemin placed his fingers on his wound and retrieved them virgin of any red liquid. He removed his bandage and Jeno frowned his eyebrows.

_The wound is gone_ , Jeno thought.  
 _Did I do something wrong?_ Jaemin wondered, before making a hypothesis. _I kissed you; do you think it had an impact?_

Jeno nodded, before using his power to make a small knife appear. Jaemin looked at him worryingly, guessing what point Jeno wanted to make. 

The taller male cut a part of his upper arm, making red blood gush out and fall on the grass. Jaemin felt like he had been the one whose arm had been hurt, and winced in pain. He didn't have time to try to appease Jeno because the taller male pulled him for a long, pleasant kiss. When they opened their eyes back, they saw Jeno’s upper arm was safe and sound; his pale skin bare of blood or cut. 

_We can heal each other?_ Jaemin wondered.  
 _Seems like it_ , Jeno answered, grabbing Jaemin’s hand, leading him to the way in order to back to the building. _That could be useful next time that psychopath makes you do reckless things like this, Jeno sounded mad.  
_ _You also did that reckless thing, and I was so worried about you,_ Jaemin recalled.  
 _Then you can guess how anxious I was_ , Jeno looked at Jaemin, giving him a reassuring smile.

They went on with their day after this, trying as much as they could to not imagine what futures sessions with Stefen would bring, or about the new ability they gained with their bond.

The power training sessions were less military-like, and Jaemin appreciated them because he was the most powerful one within his Master stage group. It meant he had very little to do and thus didn't come out of this course exhausted just like his friend Haechan did.

But after the class, the woman testing their abilities asked him to stay for a couple of minutes, and she went straight to the point; she wanted Jaemin to notice her anytime he had a vision of the future. Jaemin had had plenty of them since he first discovered his gift, some were interesting and some not, but he had learned to deal with them such that he did not feel like being teleported in a whole other place when he had the visions. 

But she asked him to use his telepathy gift to write down everything he saw and she would collect it every day. Jaemin wasn't stupid; he understood all the information he received almost daily were important for the NSF, especially in the troubled times of the world. Sometimes, the brunette felt glad to be locked upon the base, because the world outside had become terrifying, full of corrupt, evil leaders and purposeless wars. He had agreed to obey the woman, and she sent him a big smile.

______ 

 

Two days later, while Jaemin was resting on his bed, tired from the meditation class -he didn't find it useful at all, because it had been exhausting for his power and his mind-, he heard a soft knock on his door and didn't even need to open it to feel it was Jeno. It was wonderful how their bond allowed them so many things, from recognizing each other’s presence to healing with kisses.

He glanced at Jeno lovingly when the later came in, sitting on the edge of Jaemin’s bed, a couple of books in his hands.

“I thought we could read these together; their topic is the ‘regular’ soulmate gene but I’m sure we could find some useful stuff in there,” the raven-haired male explained and Jaemin nodded, getting up a bit to sit next to his lover who didn't mind him being in pyjama. He placed the book in the middle, and they began to read it, trying to gather information that could help them to feel less helpless about their relationship.

They both must have admitted it made them worry and wonder the mechanisms; as much as they loved, cared for each other, the apprehension of not knowing why did it happen and what could result in this soulmate gene was hard to live with, even though it was not a thought keeping them awake at night. They feared the NSF would one day discover something really bad about their relationship and end up separating them, or worse, killing them.

“Up to there I can’t see anything new for us,” Jaemin muttered, raising his eyes from the book for the first time in thirty minutes only to realize Jeno was looking him quite avidly. The brunette felt a light blush reaching his cheeks when he saw his lover’s sharp eyes 

_What?_ he thought, raising his large eyes at Jeno with a questioning look.  
 _You’re so gorgeous_ , Jeno’s mental voice even sounded sultry.  
 _You’re not too bad yourself_ , Jaemin joked, and he expected a half vexed look from Jeno but the raven-haired cupped his cheeks for a long and passionate kiss.

It was wonderful how out of this world they felt when they kissed; their minds forgot all the worries, matters unattended only to focus on how good their lips felt one on another, how delicious their mixed breaths were and on the small electric shocks leading switching from painful to pleasurable. They rolled on the bed, hugging each other.

The brunette felt heavenly good and secured this way, the weight of his soulmate next to him making him feel overwhelmed and protected. He grabbed Jeno’s neck tightly while the raven-haired male neared his face next to Jaemin’s to observe the brunette's swollen lips and glistering eyes.

_I love you_ , Jeno’s mind wandered. He felt an unimaginable love for the brunette next to him, whose lips curled into a big smile, brown eyes in Jeno’s black ones. Jaemin’s aura was silver, circling him wholly. The brunette saw his lover’s aura was of the same colour, emphasizing his already sharp features.

_I love you so, so much_ , Jaemin’s voice came as a mutter in Jeno’s mind, lowering his head to put his lips on the raven-haired male’s neck, leaving at first light kisses and then lightly sucking on the skin. Jeno’s hand grabbed Jaemin’s waist tighter, unaware of the intensity of the contact that stopped all the NSF’s machines instantly. They were too in love with each other, as well as too immersed in the wonderful feelings invading them to mind. 

Suddenly, they heard a strong knock on the door. 

“Whatever you’re doing, stop immediately!” it was one of the staff’s voices, and Jeno sighed loudly, eyes wandering to see Jaemin’s small pout. The brunette looked terribly frustrated and annoyed, but Jeno knew the staff wouldn't hesitate to enter the closed bedroom by force in a matter of seconds if she wished to.

Jeno explained to Jaemin what to do using their telepathy link, and the brunette nodded. 

“What’s wrong?” Jeno diplomatically asked when opening the room, raising a questioning eyebrow to the staff who looked pissed.

“Don’t act with me, the rates have gone mad once more and we’ve had our machines disconnected for about a minute,” she accused, entering the room to find any piece of evidence of intimate contact turned wrong.

“Ah, maybe it’s because we were reading a book about soulmates and tried some magic tricks they recommended,” Jeno explained and when his aura was about to turn Purple, Jaemin mentally changed it so that it became Blue. The staff looked surprised when she saw Jaemin cross-legged, a book on his knees, looking bright and smiling at her.

She hesitated a bit and Jaemin heard she was confused and kind of understood they might have had tricked her but that without proofs there was nothing she could do against them. She cursed under her breath and left. 

_She’s pissed,_ Jeno laughed mentally  
 _Not as much as I am_ , Jaemin retorted, sighing.

“Give me this book, and go eat with the others. You know what we said about sticking together only,” she cold said, grabbing the book Jaemin handed her and leaving the room with one last suspicious look.

Jaemin got up to stand in front of Jeno, grabbing his hand in his’ and sending him positive vibes through his power. He felt Jeno was as annoyed as he was; it wasn't the first time they kissed and cuddled but they had always been stopped by the staff and had to find excuses.

He sent a smile to Jeno who grabbed his hand more tightly, kissing Jaemin’s lips lightly.

_I don’t want to go have dinner with all the others_ , the brunette thought. As much as he liked everyone here, he felt like his time with Jeno was too low compared with the time with Haechan or Jaehyun. 

Jeno chuckled because Jaemin’s pout was adorable, and led the brunette to the corridor. 

_We don’t have the choice_ , he sighed mentally. Jaemin nodded, feeling resigned.

They didn't have any _choice_ at all, in every part of their lives in the facility.

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is quite an intense chapter!  
> we slowly approach the end of this fanfic ~
> 
> enjoy :D

**Part 6**

The first weekly examinations came faster than they all had expected considering the short time they had had to prepare. Jaemin had been stressed all morning about it, even though he knew he had not a lot to fear considering his stage advancement comparing to his group. Nonetheless, the thought of not knowing what that exam meant was worrisome.

They were all told to gather in the arena. Jaemin could feel fear of the unknown from the others, as well as confidence for males like Taeyong and Mark. He sat with the Master stage group, side-eyeing Jeno who looked confident and gorgeous as always. He flashed him a big smile.

"The exams will consist in competitions within your stage group; we’ll draw pairs and you’ll have to win over your adversary. Winning means either your adversary gives up, or you manage to put him out of action," Dr Wisely explained.

So they had to fight each other? The whole ‘out of action’ meant hurting the other one, and this was not what they had expected. Jaemin didn't want to hurt others; he had promised himself he would never. There was no way he’d make one of the boys here hurt, but he would be forced too. He felt like vomiting. 

Others around him had different reactions; some were thrilled because of the competition, others feared for their lives and a few actually felt bad about hurting others.

"Let’s start from the Advanced stages," she said, boys from that rank, including Taeil, Renjun and Doyoung amongst others getting in front. 

This is nonsense, he heard Jeno’s voice reach him, and Jaemin looked from afar to see his lover sandwiched between Mark and Taeyong, a sad look in his eyes.  

_I don’t want to take part in this, I don’t want to hurt anyone_ , Jaemin’s voice was terrified and it broke Jeno’s heart.  
 _But if you don’t, make sure they will_ , Jeno’s kind self was becoming calculating. Jaemin shook his head.  
 _I don’t care_ , he whispered and felt a tad angry at Jeno because he was advising him to fight as well. Jaemin knew the raven-haired wasn’t wrong but he couldn’t hurt anyone. 

He heard Jeno was trying to continue the discussion with him, but he ignored it. He knew it was childish but Jaemin’s thoughts were a mess.

"I forgot to tell you all that the winners of every stage will be given anything they’d like within the limits of what we authorize. The losers will get a punishment I’ll announce later," she added. The brunette felt even worse now because the thirst for the gain was going to be stronger than any considerate feeling for most of his mates. He painfully gulped his saliva.

Newcomers were spared of any examinations because most them had just gotten their Advanced Stages and their powers were still weak. Jaemin regretted his Master stages and even dreaming for an Ultimate one.

Ten and Doyoung were the first ones to begin; it was evident the exam include both physical and magical elements because Ten had to do a backflip when Doyoung made the ground shake under his feet and begin to crumble around the petite male. Doyoung eventually won when he shook once more the earth after ten minutes of run and chase. Ten eventually begged for withdrawal, risking falling in another hole in the ground his opponent had created.

Dr Lana then activated a button that completely resorted the damaged ground. They all understood these exams were well established by the NSF and from what looked like years now.

Doyoung then had to fight Renjun, which he did without pain because the short male was one of the few reluctant to hurt anyone, and they all saw him avoid fighting at all costs. Eventually, he tripped and Doyoung threw a piece of the ground on him, which made him scream and thus lose. Jaemin bit his lip in pain. A person with a similar but more powerful power than Renjun came to heal him on the side of the arena.

They all understood all the blows were allowed. The weekly exams were going to be a bloodbath. Jaemin felt so ill he couldn’t control the others thoughts racing through his mind, both frightened and competitive. 

He felt Haechan tap his shoulder and knew it was his time to go down and fight his friends, his mates, the ones that he had lived with for two years and mostly adored. The brunette arrived in the centre of the arena with shaky legs, but he tried not to show it.

_Jaemin, you have to fight_ , Jeno mentally told him and Jaemin looked at him from the ground level. His soulmate looked seriously concerned, his aura oscillating between dark red and orange-yellow; he was angry at the staff for allowing such carnage and violence and worried about Jaemin not fighting and getting hurt. Haechan would probably not hurt him but Jaehyun and Jungwoo were serious competitors.

Unluckily, Jaemin and Jaehyun were picked as the first pair. The brunette didn't even have to read Jaehyun’s mind to feel he wouldn’t spare him. Indeed, the elder had wanted for a while to have the tracking device in his neck removed because it was painful and invading, and Jaemin knew he wouldn’t give up until he had what he wanted. Jaehyun was a nice friend but one of the most competitive person Jaemin knew.

The brunette positioned himself a few meters away from Jaehyun, his brown eyes lowered, trying to figure out a solution. 

_Please, fight,_ he heard Jeno insist and didn't bother looking in his directions.  
 _I won’t,_ he was stubborn and Jeno clenched his fist.

Dr Wisley indicated them to start, and Jaemin remained immobile, wary that Jaehyun might appear anytime soon close to him and push him to the floor, or worst. Indeed, the male appeared behind him and the contact on his palm made Jaemin turn back in a rapid move. Jaehyun then appeared on the side, and the same scheme happened all over again and again until Jaemin felt dizzy.

Jaehyun made him turn on himself before he decided it was time to hit the brunette so that he could win the duel; and when he approached Jaemin’s face with his fist, the brunette felt scared but strangely determined.

And he made Jaehyun immobile with his power, using it to sort of mentally freeze him. Everyone in the arena saw Jaemin glance at Jaehyun with a decided glare, and the elder male tried to hit, but he was unable to, feeling his body didn't answer his mind.

_I don’t want you to hurt me but more than that I don't want to hurt you,_ Jaemin said in Jaehyun’s mind, and the immobile male, ready to hit him, looked shocked to hear Jaemin in his mind. _I’ll let you win, but don’t hurt me,_ he added, feeling his energy draining because of him trying to immobilize the male. He hadn’t expected his power to keep his frozen for so long.  
 _I want to win_ , Jaehyun thought.  
 _I’ll withdraw, I promise,_ Jaemin begged and Jaehyun saw the male didn't lie because of his aura. He mentally agreed, and Jaemin stopped the mental pressure, preparing for Jaehyun’s dishonesty and blow that never came. 

“I give up!” Jaemin screamed in direction of Dr Wisley, who looked displeased. She had her eyebrows furrowed, but Jaemin knew she couldn’t refuse because the rules were the rules. She declared Jaehyun winner, and the male smirked, mentally thanking Jaemin who went to sit back. 

He passed by Jeno who raised his eyes to him, a mix of anger, fear and relief in his gaze.

_You could have ended up really hurt_ ; his tone was trying to appear cold.  
 _I know, but I won’t participate in this deranged thing_ , Jaemin felt hurt by Jeno’s tone but was too determined and stubborn about this.

As expected, Jungwoo won over Haechan, the latter having lost his means when the tall male had sent him powerful blows of water, and Jungwoo fought Jaehyun who surprisingly won over him, making him trip on the floor by the same dizzying technique than he had used on Jaemin and gave up.

Jaemin then saw Taeyong, Mark and Jeno come in front, the first match being his soulmate versus Mark. His heart was beating faster than never, and he gradually understood why Jeno had urged him to fight; Jaemin was so worried he could go down himself and kick Mark’s ass, and the thought deranged the brunette. The soulmate gene really had its toll on him. 

Jeno adopted a defensive attitude at first, letting Mark send small flames that he graciously avoided, before easily throwing the male on the fence of the arena, his back crackling in a teeth-gritting way. Mark screamed in pain, and Jaemin felt Jeno was angry, so angry his power was strengthened to the extent he could probably have Mark dead if he had wanted.

_Don’t hurt him!_ Jaemin’s voice came as pleading in Jeno’s head, who raised his sharp eyes to Jaemin’s direction. _He's hurt enough; you’ll win for sure_ , the brunette added. It managed to make his anger lower, and he was declared the winner of this round.

 Jeno then faced Taeyong who looked a bit less confident then he was before the incident with Mark who was receiving help from the healer; the male knew that Jaehyun attacking Jaemin might have triggered anger in his opponent’s veins. 

“I give up,” saying this was the first thing Jeno did when Lana told them to start, and the tall male walked out of the arena a few seconds after it; the woman didn't stop him because the exams were over anyway. 

Jaemin felt guilty and worried, and he ran to join Jeno, who was walking with a fast pace in the forest separating them from the building. 

“Jeno! Wait!” he shouted, running after him and eventually grabbing his hand. “What is wrong with you?” he tried not to sound too worried and troubled, but the look Jeno sent him, worried and hurt sent chills to his spine. 

“Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been for you?” Jeno shouted as well, his aura slowly becoming red. “How sick it made me seeing you at Jaehyun’s mercy like this!” he added, and Jaemin felt hurt by the tone he used. Jeno was usually kind and soft with him, and it must have been the first time he truly saw him angry with him. 

“I can’t fight, Jeno, I don’t…” he tried to say but Jeno grabbed both of his hands, facing him now.

“You have no choice! If you don’t fight, they will! And you can’t always manage this like you did today,” Jeno scolded him, and this time Jaemin felt tears appear in the corner of his eyes. Jeno was right, he couldn’t lie to himself, but the thought violence was required, that they were not playing around anymore and that the serious matters had begun made his heart ache.

“When are they going to leave us alone? To stop forcing us to do things we don’t want to?” Jaemin’s voice was shaking and it made Jeno’s aura switch to yellow-orange in a matter of seconds. He saw a tear roll on his soulmate’s cheek. “They have a word to say on anything, even us and I … I can’t take it anymore,” Jaemin burst into tears, and he felt Jeno’s arms circle him in a protecting, reassuring way. The brunette placed his head on his lover’s shoulder, feeling the latter’s heartbeat. 

It had been an exhausting week, between the stress of the classes they had, the energy their power required and the pressure of being trained for a cause they didn't know. Jeno had cried once too, but not in front of his soulmate. Seeing him weep like this made his heartbreak.

“It’s going to be alright,” he muttered in Jaemin’s ear, hugging him. It was strange how Jeno’s gestures gradually made Jaemin feel less over the edge; he had felt like he’d never calm down. “As long as we’re alive and together, nothing else matters,” he added placing a kiss on Jaemin’s cheek and nose, the brunette looking up to his soulmate with teary eyes and reddened cheeks.

A kiss on his lips was all it took for him to temporarily forget about all his worries. 

___________

 

Doyoung, Jaehyun and Taeyong were the winners, and they respectively asked for a bigger room, the removal of the electronic GPS and a day off which they all got. The arena had a power rate measurement that showed which of them had had the lowest rate, in this case, Renjun, and the male had two additional power classes added to his schedule. 

A couple of weeks passed this way, with classes and exams; it was exhausting, stressing, and soon the mood began to fall; Mark got to hands with Ten one day and he went missing for a couple of days, surely jailed for his comportment. Most of them were tired, worried and confused about the purpose of their doings, while pressure kept been added each week as the punishment went harsher and harsher and recompenses better and better.

Jaemin had decided to adopt a ‘dumb’ position, meaning he didn't do anything during the exams that could hurt anyone, and let the others win. As much as Jeno hated this, he couldn’t help but let Jaemin do because he respected him too much to fight with him about this. He knew that as much as the soulmate gene pushed him to intervene, Jaemin was an independent boy who had immense powers. Fortunately, Jaehyun understood and won gently, Haechan wasn’t harsh and Jungwoo agreed with Jaemin giving up after a while; Jaemin never won, but strangely he never lost. It surprised him because he barely used his power but never was convoked to have a punishment. The other members he fought weren’t a burden as well. 

Jeno withdrew most times because he didn't feel like fighting Taeyong Mark and others all over when he knew he could easily win over them without being tired, so he let them win over and over, feeling like he had anything he needed already.

Until the sixth week, when depressing thoughts invaded most of the members. Tears had flowed in the facility, and Jaemin and Jeno had not been spared. The brunette remembered one specific conversation with Jeno about his past life, how he missed high school and his mother. Jeno had had stars in his eyes when he told Jaemin about his parents and his cats, making them cry a bit and feel too nostalgic and melancholic. 

Eventually, Jeno decided it was time to make a move.

The sixth-week exam had been tensed because Mark had just been released from jail and the looks he had been sending Ten were making everyone uneasy. Everyone was pretty much wary of many tensions floating around because of the fatigue and the exhaustion.

Taeil and the rest of the newcomers were now allowed to fight, and Taeil won over Ten and Doyoung won over him; the later reached another stage the Master one when he sent a powerful blow that required stitches. Jaemin had been competing with Renjun who easily won over the voluntary laziness of the brunette; and if Jaemin had not been giving accurate future previsions to the NSF, Dr Lana Wisley would have punished him. However, considering Jaemin's obedience as well as the anger the most powerful component of the unit, Jeno, had shown on the first competition, she didn't say anything. The department knew Jaemin didn't need exams because his power was strong enough, so they didn't force it.

Haechan won over Jaehyun and then over Renjun, and even though he had dark circle under his eyes, he smiled widely and Jaemin wholly congratulated him.

Then came the Ultimate Stages, and Jaemin felt as soon as he saw the look in Jeno’s eyes that he was going to fight for real. He worried as soon as he understood it.

He affronted Taeyong first, and the fight was violent, the both of them coming to the hands rather than powers at first. Jeno narrowly escaped a particularly strong blow from his opponent and sent him one in the stomach, which made Taeyong bend in two; he then used his power to throw him a hundred meters away. Dr Lana Wisley looked at the power rate that rose at 600; Jeno was quite something, a very talented element of the unit. 

But Jaemin feared, even more, when he saw his lover in front of Mark, who looked pissed because of his jail sentence. The first time he had fought Jeno, he had almost broken his spine hadn’t there been a talented healer. 

The elder threw some fireballs at Jeno, which almost hit the male, and another one went the Advanced Stages’ direction, which was immediately stopped by one of their teachers. They fought for that seemed like long minutes, and Jaemin was holding the front seat tightly, the fear of seeing Jeno hurt making him tensed like never. It was strange for him to see how his calm and gentle soulmate could become that competitive.

But he knew that his soulmate was grandiosely powerful. Anything he wanted, he could have.

After minutes of a restless fight, Jeno’s power rate one once more over 600, and he went all out, sending Mark on the top of the arena, falling on seats painfully without any difficulty. Everyone seating in the arena was shocked, Jaemin could hear from their thoughts, and he himself was surprised of his soulmate’s change of strategy.

He waited on the side for Jeno to reclaim his recompense, and saw that Dr Lana frowned; he couldn't help but listen to her thoughts, and finally understood what had been his lover’s goal. He had asked for the permission to be let out of the facility for one day Jaemin, after years of being secluded from the outside world. Jaemin couldn’t help but feel his heart beat faster of the thought of being allowed to experience something real and authentic with Jeno, but the face of Dr Lana didn't presage anything positive.

He heard Jeno insist, explaining that he had won and he didn't ask anything they couldn’t provide; he talked about how Jaehyun had been allowed to go out to town when winning the fourth exam without it being a problem. Jeno spoke with tact and diplomacy that Jaemin didn't expect considering how angry and saddened his soulmate had been a few minutes ago. 

She told him she’d have to ask her superior, and that she’d get back to him, and Jeno felt it was better than nothing. He came to Jaemin’s side, aware that his telepath soulmate might have listened to it all.

_Thank you for trying your best,_ Jaemin mentally thanked him, grabbing his hand tightly. The thought that Jeno could get them to leave the facility for a couple of hours and grasp what could have been their life if they had met before made tears appear in his eyes.  
 _Let’s hope they agree,_ Jeno turned to the brunette and felt his soulmate grabbing his cheeks, placing kisses all over his face.  
 _I love you_ , he heard Jaemin tell him, and Jeno smiled and laughed under the smooches of the brunette.

The good news came the next morning, on their day off; Jaemin had been eating lunch with Haechan who had bragged all morning about the spa treatments he had received because of his win, which had made Jaemin laugh lots because of the explicit content. Haechan had expressed how good the message had been, and Jeno spent his time in the gardens, observing nature and animals.

When they faced Dr Wisley, Jaemin knew immediately she had agreed, as her thoughts betrayed her. Generally, he was not able to read them because some of the important staff seemed to have magic shields, but the time, maybe due to the excitement of knowing the answer, he had been able to. He sent tons of positive vibes to Jeno. 

“We have decided to allow you two to leave the facility for a couple of hours and wander in the city, because of Jeno’s win at the exam and the fact we can clearly see your power stagnate too much lately,” she said, and both their auras went gold when they looked one at the other. Jaemin sent Jeno the biggest smile he’s ever had and his soulmate’s eyes were creasing like crazy. “But we have conditions for it,” and they already both knew it couldn’t be that simple, “you’ll have from 9 in the morning till 8 in the evening, and will be followed discreetly by some of our staff. Also, you won’t be allowed to use any of your powers, whatever may be the reasons. We’ll drop you two at Anchorage tomorrow morning. After that, we expect you Jeno to use your powers to fight during the exams; we won’t tolerate forfeit,” she added, and both males in front of her were surprised because they expected her to tell this to Jaemin, not Jeno. “Lastly, consider this as the one and only time we’d allow you, alone or together, to go out without any official purpose,” she concluded.

They both agreed without hesitation.

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and here is the last part before the final one!   
> as you will read, things are getting worse and something is bound to happen~  
> i already have the ending written but i'll perfect it because it's going to be quite confusing and unexpected? 
> 
> anyways, enjoy this chapter :D

Jaemin hadn’t felt that much excitement in years; when he dressed up for his first and last day out, a huge smile never left his face. He walked in the corridors, heart beating fast, and met Jeno in the hall, looking as beautiful as always. Judging from his smile and his aura, Jaemin knew he was as happy as he was.

The ride to Anchorage was marvellous, the two males being able to see the outside world for the first time in long, terribly long months. Nature was different, and the wind blew differently from what they had been used to in the facility. Even the sun seemed to shine in a different way.

They eventually reached Alaska’s largest town, eyeing the buildings, houses, shops and cars and being dropped by the staff.

“We’ll follow you all day, but we’ll always keep some distance so that you don’t feel we’re part of the date,” one of them joked, making the couple surprised of that sudden good mood from one of the stoic staff of the facility.

The city was small, but it was enjoyable. A long time had passed since the two boys had been to a proper town, with normal people with even more normal lives. 

They walked hand in hand, noticing how nobody seemed to notice them or glance at them just like the staff would do in the facility, wary of their every movement and use of power. Here, nobody knew what they were capable of or what link united them. Jaemin and Jeno appeared like the usual teenager couple. 

It felt weird, at some point, to have no purpose in wandering, no pressure of attending yet another class or exam. They could do whatever they want, and eventually, they kind of felt overwhelmed. They had so much to catch up and so little time. However, both of them decided to focus on the positive aspect which was that their little hang out had been approved by the staff.

“I can hear everyone’s thoughts, and it is so weird,” Jaemin told Jeno, his head full of thoughts from everyone he passed by. It was even more terrible because the density of people was a thousand time more important than the one in the facility. He had to adjust himself to the amounts of human beings around him.

They eventually went to the local Starbucks, laughing at their mutual amazement in such a place. They sat together at a table, just like any regular couple, and looked at each other. Both of them knew the staff wasn’t very far, surely drinking something close to them, but they didn’t care. Be damn the facility, for one day in their lives. Maybe the only one ever.

“Do you think we’d ever have met in our previous lives?” Jeno asked, sipping on his café latte.

“When I think about it, we didn’t live that far away from each other. Your school was only a couple of miles next to mine,” Jaemin answered, savouring his Americano. “We would totally have met in some inter-school party thrown by seniors,” he added, making Jeno smile a bit. The thought of them meeting in a random but normal place filled his heart with both joy and sorrow.

“I’m pretty sure mutual friends would have introduced us,” Jeno wondered, imagining the scene in front of his eyes.

“And it would have been like a movie, love at the first sight,” Jaemin laughed. It was so cliché but it would probably have been like this anyways. Jeno agreed, holding Jaemin’s hand and lightly stroking it.

“We would have been that annoying couple texting each other in any gathering with our friends even though we would have been a couple of meters away,” he snickered.

They remained silent, after that, Jaemin using his mind power to project all the images of what his life with Jeno could have been in his soulmate’s mind. It left both of them very nostalgic of something they had never lived.

“Or maybe we would never have met. We would have dated and married other people and missed the chance to love each other,” Jeno eventually whispered. It could have gone like this too, and this made them less sad. There were so many scenarios, but they should probably enjoy the fact that their second lives had allowed them to meet each other.

The rest of the date went on like a dream. They ate at a fast-food, enjoying what they used to eat before the whole second life deal, sat down in a park to enjoy nature, amongst families enjoying their weekends. Jeno laid his head on Jaemin’s lap and the latter played with his hair, feeling the wind brush his face and sun hit his skin in a delightful touch.

They ended the day by going to the local funfair, bingeing on cotton candy and candies, and observing the night view from the top of the ferry wheel. Jaemin and Jeno felt both on top of a cloud and sad as rocks because the love they felt for each other was overwhelming but the day was coming to an end. The feeling they’d never get to be a normal couple, go to college together, buy a house and grow old together was a pain for both of them.

They loved each other so much, but the realization they’d never be free to decide how to live their lives left a bitter taste in their mouths.

_________

 

And a couple of weeks after their Anchorage date, Jamie understood why they had been trained for so long, and so intensively.

The staff had asked them to gather in the arena, and they had all expected an impromptu exam like the NSF enjoyed to do, as to test their capabilities better. However, they soon realized they had not been gathered to practice but to listen to whatever the huge team in front of them had to say. 

“The training period is finished,” were the first words the General gave them, glancing at the males in front of him. They looked confused, and he elaborated. “You are now all trained agents and ready for phase 3, which is the field activities,” he added. The males whispered between each other, wondering what ‘field’ could mean; were they going to be released in the wild, finally leaving the damn facility? 

Seeing their confused faces, and their hopeful glances, Dr Wisley stood forward and spoke. 

“You will now be allowed to go out to pursue missions we will give you. We have ranked you according to your power level, and the higher your power is, the more difficult your missions are going to be,” she explained. 

Jaemin didn’t take long to finally get it all. He shivered.

Soon enough, they all understood it wasn’t a positive evolution but a regression. They were going to be used as agents by the NSF, to fulfil whatever they couldn’t do because they did not have powers.

_We are never going to be free_ , Jeno whispered.

Jaemin didn’t answer but his silence was worth a thousand words. He turned to Haechan, who looked confused and his usual bright face had a solemn look. His eyes reached Jaemin’s and they exchanged a glance full of meanings, exhaustion and fear. 

They were then handed a piece of paper, with their first ‘mission’ explained on it. Reading people’s minds, Jaemin understood it could go from stealing important papers to killing actual people. He felt anger rush his veins. 

Did they deserve all this? Being kept for years in a secluded facility after having died, not being able to see their families and friends ever again, being trained on the daily and mentally and physically tortured, only to be sent in the outside world to hurt people and challenge governments? They were slaves to the state, unable to protest and only made to obey.

Eventually, everyone left, their paper in their hand, and Jaemin did so, eyeing how Jeno had left earlier, He had felt from his aura he had needed to be alone, probably to get his thoughts together and gulp down all the information given. The brunette headed to the living room, a stoic expression on his face. 

He saw Ten was watching TV, his eyes sleepy and sad, glancing at Jaemin with a solemn look. Mark and Haechan were on the sofa, whispering to each other. The brunette noticed how their hand were intertwined.

With a rapid scan of their minds and emotions, Jaemin discovered they felt romantic feelings for the other. It was weird to him considering he didn’t feel any soulmate gene or the intense feelings which came with it. What he felt was the same link he has felt when coming across regular couples when he went out to Anchorage with Jeno. Mark and Haechan were not made to be soulmates; however, it didn’t stop them from loving each other. 

A _beautiful_ , shared love. 

Jaemin sat next to them, sighing when recalling all the previous events. The couple sent him small smiles, and he felt Haechan put his head on his shoulder.

“What mission do you have?” he asked Jaemin, closing his eyes, his hand still in Mark’s hold.

“I have to get some sort of secret plan from the government of some Asian country, and change it for another one in everyone’s minds,” he sighed, knowing already it was going to be mentally draining and that he was risking his life at any moment.

“Mark has to kill a diplomat,” Haechan plainly said, but his thoughts betrayed the neutrality he had wanted to express. He was mad worried for his lover, worried that he’d be hurt or worse, killed in the attempt of killing someone else.

Jaemin had eventually figured out that even if they had died a first time and came back to life, they were not immortals. They didn’t seem to age a lot in the facility, but they could die by any other mean. This meant that if someone caught Mark, and decided to shoot him, he’d die. Apparently, from what Jaemin read, there was no third life.

“I’m sorry,” Jaemin sent positive vibes to Mark. “They have no right to do this to us,” he added, making the two males nod.

“But what can we do? Refuse to fulfil our missions? They’d jail us and torture us until we agree. We can’t do anything or protest,” Mark’s tone was angered but somehow resigned to his fate.

“We can only hope they’d let us out after we fulfil all we have to do,” Haechan added, sighing loudly.

And this is what Jaemin did, fulfilling all the missions given to him. He succeeded in the first one, the second one, and then he stopped counting after the tenth mission. What was the point in counting them? Their number would be indefinite, it was almost sure.

His mission ranged from stealing things to actually pain people, using his mind power. He was never asked to kill anybody, but the trauma of having inflicted pain to people as a form of a warning from the government was enough to make him have nightmares during long, sleepless nights. 

Jeno had also been given tough and traumatizing missions, often leaving for weeks to fulfil them. He’d leave his soulmate without any news from him, forced by the staff to take care of the most dangerous missions because of the intensity of his power. Those weeks were hell to both Jeno and Jaemin, exhausted from the lack of each other and the everlasting missions.

At some point, everyone fell into yet another aura of depression. They still trained when they didn’t have missions to fulfil, and had little time to rest or spend moments with their friends. This resulted in a very sad and tired mood in their facility, everyone being drained of any happiness and will to continue.

“Do you think someone will ever snap?” Jeno found himself asking Jaemin one day, months after the beginning of phase 3. He had just finished one other of his weeks-long mission, draining him physically and mentally. He had gained strength back from being in the presence of his soulmate, but he felt like nothing Jaemin did would have made him feel happy and joyful again.

“As much as I want to be optimistic, it’s bound to happen,” Jaemin whispered, brushing Jeno’s black hair with his hand in a reassuring motion. He felt desperate when seeing how drained his soulmate was. Jaemin knew the NSF was harsher with Jeno because, for some reason, they considered him as their best element and used him for most risky missions. It resulted in Jeno’s aura constantly being dark blue.

Jeno’s eyes were so empty it saddened Jaemin to the highest level. He had always thought that no matter what would happen in the future, his link with his soulmate would make it up in all ways. However, it seemed that the soulmate gene wasn’t sufficient to make up for months of harsh training and missions all over the world.

“I missed you so much,” Jeno’s voice was shaky when he buried his head in Jaemin’s neck, a couple of tears rolling on his soulmate’s skin. Jaemin held him tight, not knowing what to say but being able to feel the depth of Jeno’s distress. It broke his heart. “I … I just want to leave this place forever,” it took a time for Jeno to mutter these words. He raised his head from Jaemin’s neck and looked at his soulmate in the eyes.

“We could go ask them,” Jaemin blatantly said, eyes expressing determination. “I mean, if we ask them when they’re letting us out and how many missions we have left, we would know how much time we have left and plan the future,” he added, cupping Jeno’s cheeks and kissing his face.

“Do you think they’d tell us?” Jeno’s voice was hesitant but for the first time in months, his aura turned yellow.

“You’re their most powerful element and they’ll know that giving you good news would make you more efficient, they have to tell us,” Jaemin answered, making a lot of sense to Jeno’s mind. He hummed, hugging his soulmate and planning on going to ask the day after. For now, he needed his soulmate’s arms and body warmth to make him feel better.

_________

 

“You want to know what?” Dr Lana asked, raising her eyes to the two males in front of them. They had come to her office, begging to talk to her and finally had muttered some words. 

“We would just like to know how many missions we have left and when we’ll be able to leave the facility definitely,” Jaemin asked once more, wondering if he had not been understood the first time or if the woman was acting dumb. She suddenly burst into laughter.

“When you’re going to leave?” she was still laughing, a bitter and uncontrollable laughter which made the two males realize it might be bad and they probably messed up at some point.

“Yes, leave,” Jeno added, trying to act unbothered despite his heart being ready to implode. He felt his power wave raise considerably, wondering how long he’d take the confinement in the facility and the treatment they received in there.

“I don’t think you understood,” Dr Wisley got up, coming close to Jeno and Jaemin. The latter noticed how her thoughts were even lighter in his head than usual, a sign that Stefen, the shield man, might have been progressing. Or maybe Jaemin was becoming weaker and his weakness lessened his power extends.

They raised their eyes to Dr Wisley, questioning her words.

“You will never leave this place,” each word was like being stabbed. The woman had spoken with such indifference that made their blood both boil and freeze.

“What do you mean? We won’t stay here until we die, right?” Jaemin asked, feeling how the words of Dr, Lana had drained once more some energy out of Jeno’s usual bright self.

“You will stay here until you die, I thought it had been clear for all of you,” she explained, and her expression indicated she felt way too much pleasure speaking of such things. “May I remind you that you are already dead and only live because we took care of you,” she added. “Therefore you belong to the NSF and only the NSF, this until the day you die in the missions or here,” she ended, looking at the two males with the coldest eyes Jaemin had ever seen.

Silence filled the room. The realization was so hard to gulp for Jaemin and Jeno that words wouldn’t come out their mouths. Jeno pushed away a tear that had rolled down his cheek, trying to master his power that just wanted to go out, destroy the building with everyone in it and see it burn. 

“Are we … are we just tools to you? Are we not human anymore in your eyes?” Jeno muttered, his voice shaking.

“Since you already died, you’re not human anymore to us. Humans like me don’t have superpowers and don’t develop any soulmate gene,” Dr Lana explained, going back to her desk. “Now if you would leave, I’m quite a busy human as you can see,” she ended, indicating the military men to make Jaemin and Jeno leave her office.

The next day, she made sure to have all the people in the unit informed of what she had told the two soulmates in case there had been misunderstandings.

_______

 

“I created a sort of invisible shield around this room in which no one can hear us or know we’re here altogether,” Jaemin told the group when he came back to them after activating such field. Jeno, Haechan, Mark, Ten, Jaehyun and he had gathered in one isolated part of the gardens, two weeks following the announcement that had shaken most of the unit.

None of them had thought about the possibility they’d be stuck in the unit forever. They had all envisaged being freed after a certain amount of missions, good action or years of service. Never would they have imagined how the NSF considered them. Animals. Tools without soul or needs. 

“We don't have that much time before they see we’re missing though,” Jaehyun said and they all agreed.

“We have to get out of here,” Jeno’s words hit home to the males seating on the grass, under the sun. This thought had been obsessing him ever since he had been crying his heart out in Jaemin’s arms when they came out of Dr Wisley’s office. He had really wanted to think that he had a brighter future out there, leaving Alaska and even America and going to settle with his soulmate and be happy forever. The future the NSF had planned for him was very far from that pretty image he had built in his mind.

“If we work efficiently all together, there must be a way,” Mark remarked, and they all nodded. They all had powerful powers and were all in the Ultimate stage now if not for Haechan.

“I don’t think it is going to be easy, but we have nothing to lose. I can’t live here anymore,” Jaemin said, feeling Jeno hold his hand as he spoke.

“Next week is the new unit’s first arena training session, they’re all going to be busy monitoring it and only Jaehyun has a mission during that time; he can easily teleport back then and join us to leave,” Ten explained, eyeing Jaehyun nodding.

“Why doesn’t Jaehyun use his power to get us all out of there?” Mark asked. 

“Because if he does so, Stephen, the guy with the shield can get us back. Jaehyun’s teleportation power functions everywhere around the world now but it doesn’t make him entirely leave here; he would still be trackable by the staff and Stefen could easily bring us back. The only way to leave is to physically get out of here; from the moment we do this, they won't be able to track us,” Jaemin explained, having read dozens of books on the subject and scanned a lot of staff’s minds. The plan had to be perfect.

“Well, I guess we have to get out by the door they make us exit when we’re going on missions and from there Jeno could make a car appear and we’d leave,” Haechan described. It seemed pretty easy, seen like this. 

“The thing is that from the exit door to the real exit of the facility, there are about five kilometres separating both spots. We’d have to run and probably fight the guards that would come after us, ” Jaehyun added, having explored the zone a bit.

“We can do it, we’re more powerful than they can ever phantom,” Jeno concluded, having found hope in the idea that maybe he wouldn’t end his life here in the sordid facility.

They all looked at each other, both determined and scared. If they succeeded, they would live normal lives, enjoying what they had missed for so many years. But if they failed, they couldn’t imagine the punishment awaiting them. However, the idea that doing nothing would only lead them to continue their infinite circle of mission-sleep-mission was sufficient for them to bear the idea of a punishment.

If they couldn’t be free, they’d rather die a second and final time.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and here is the last chapter !!
> 
> before reading it, make sure to read the tags one more time!  
> I hope you will like this chapter and be satisfied with the ending even if it might appear a bit confusing at times...
> 
> enjoy the last chapter!!!

**Part 8**

 

The days before the plan would take action were both a mix of excitement and sadness. They had decided not to tell the others about the plan because they knew at some point someone would rat out to the NSF. Even if the entire unit decided on leaving, they wouldn’t make it out alive. The NSF would find a way to persuade one of them to denounce them, giving something in return.

But Jaemin ended up regretting not telling them. When he saw Renjun’s tired eyes but genuine smile at him when he sat in the living room, or chat with Jungwoo after a short mission, he wondered if he had done the right choice. Leaving them out of the plan, to save himself. However, the idea that if he told anyone, and they told the NSF, he’d probably never be able to leave the dream life he had imagined for him and Jeno was sufficient to make him feel decided about not telling everyone. He had wondered a while ago if the soulmate gene would make him selfish and centred around Jeno; he now had his answer.

Jeno came back from his last -hopefully, last ever- mission the day before the plan would take action. He was exhausted, his skin paler than before and his eye bags eating half his face when he came to Jaemin room. The raven-haired had snuggled in his soulmate’s arms, enjoying his warmth and smell.

 _Tomorrow we’ll be free,_ he muttered mentally, having agreed on not speaking at loud not to risk someone knowing.  
_I can’t wait,_ Jaemin smiled when he felt Jeno kiss his cheek.  _I’ve been waiting for that moment for three years now,_ he recalled, having felt like time had passed so fast but also so slowly during that span of time.  
_Where are we going, when we finally get out?_ Jeno’s eyes regained some glimpses of hope when he asked this to Jaemin.  
_I don’t care, as long as we’re together,_ Jaemin answered, kissing Jeno’s lips and snuggling closer to him. 

And then the fateful day came.

For some reason, it had been one of the most beautiful days Jaemin had ever seen in the facility. The sun was shining brightly; making everything look like it was glimmering under its rays, and the air was warm but not suffocatingly warm. It was a perfect day to relax next to the swimming pool or hang out in the gardens.

However, this was not what Jaemin, Jeno, Haechan, Mark, Ten and Jaehyun had had in mind.

Around four in the afternoon, Jaemin got out of his room and walked towards the exit of the building where a staff waited for him; he was supposed to go for a mission, something involving erasing the mind of some political opposition to the country. He had used this opportunity to start the plan, reaching the door and looking straight in the eyes of the staff. When he did so, he sent them waves of pain, as to make the staff and military men all around fall to the ground unconscious. Judging how angry Jaemin had been, they were going to be unconscious for hours now.

When he did so, he sent a mental message to all the boys included in the plan, motioning them they could come. He scanned the environment mentally, noticing there was nothing wrong yet and everyone had been doing their usual doings. Dr Lana was attending and monitoring with General Houston the new unit’s training session, and had no idea what was happening in the other unit. 

“Let’s go!” Jaemin whispered when he saw Haechan and Mark come, hand in hand, smiling brightly, then Ten and finally Jeno all gather in the hall. Jeno had managed to create fake cameras, and Jaemin had cast a spell which would make him leaving and nothing else happening being showed on the computers where the images of the camera were sent. They knew Jaehyun would join them soon.

They walked fast and silently, their hearts racing in their chests. They had no idea when the NSF would notice something was off and had to run as far as they could before they would do so. The wind brushed their faces when they left the building, most of them feeling a sensation of freedom, the first in years. Outside the NSF was the continuation of the forest, with a sort of wild valley circled by the electric fences of the whole complex. They had to run thought out the valley, and then jump off the fence; only then they could be free.

“I don’t understand why that valley is so huge,” Ten said, walking at the same pace than the others. They had decided on not running, but not walking either and were entering the said valley, which looked like it would take hours to finally reach.

“It’s to dissuade fools like us who want to leave,” Haechan joked, still keeping his hand in Mark’s. They saw varieties of trees, a sort of cascade and more wildlife as they kept going further. From time to time Jaemin scanned the building they just left for any sign that the staff would know what was going on. Nothing.

“If only someone had the power of invisibility, it would be easier…” Mark sighed, glancing at the hill they had to climb. Judging from his words, he was also worried to get noticed. They knew Jeno was doing a good job at sensing any camera and deleting the pictures it might have taken of them but who knew what mechanisms the NSF had to protect their beings.

 _You’re not talkative,_  Jaemin said, eyeing Jeno’s figure next to him.  
_I don’t want to speak now, I’ll have all the time and topics I want when we’ll be out of this place,_  he explained, his eyes looking determined but his traits looking stressed out. Jaemin grabbed his hand and squeezed it in a reassuring motion.

A good thirty minutes had passed since they had escaped and they were in the middle of climbing the hill when suddenly things started to get heated in Jaemin’s mind. He suddenly heard dozens of voices, all near to them.

“Guys! Hurry!” he screamed, motioning them to run. He had to focus his breath on his running so he switched to talking to them mentally. 

Something happened, they knew we’re gone and they’re after us, he tried not to panic and suppressed all the anxious intents appearing in all the other males. He heard them becoming confused, and more determined to run for their lives. They wouldn’t have another chance. 

He also tried to somehow reach Jaehyun, having tried steadily for the past long minutes without an answer. This was bad. 

Suddenly, the elder male’s voice came to Jaemin in fractions. From what the brunette understood, Jaehyun had been caught and they were informed of their plan for long now, meaning the means gathered to stop them must not be underestimated. Jaemin suddenly felt huge waves of anxiety fill him, both from Jaehyun who was surely going to pay his betrayal with his life and his own fear of what was going to them.

They all reached the hill fast since they had all been running, and continued with that pace to reach a plain where the grass had grown freely for what seemed to be decades. It reached their knees, and they ripped most of it when running.

Jaemin decided not to tell them about Jaehyun, because it would be a shock and probably make them stop. However, as much as Jaemin wanted to suppress his own anxiety to the others, he felt Jeno glancing at him. Just by looking at his eyes, he knew he couldn’t keep anything from his soulmate.

 _They caught Jaehyun,_  Jaemin uttered, still running. Mark and Haechan were the firsts, followed by Ten and Jeno and Jaemin at the end. Waves of terror filled Jeno.  
_Is there anything we can do for him?_  Jeno asked, but he already knew the answer. If they went back to the unit to save him, they’d die. And Jaehyun was probably beaten up and tortured as they spoke, incapable of using any power to save himself and teleport himself with the other males.

Jaemin shook his head, hair flowing because of the wind and the speed they were running. He could feel tears fill his eyes, knowing he’d probably never see Jaehyun again. Jaehyun with whom he had been friends ever since he came to the facility, whose power was so powerful, maybe too powerful. What an irony, Jaemin thought, that Jaehyun had to die because he couldn’t join them in their escape.

The first gunshot made them all fall.

“Run!” Haechan screamed, having turned his back and seeing dozens of armed men probably all here to finish them. It seemed that the NSF had no interest in keeping them alive.

They all ran even faster than before, even faster than they ever thought they could ever. Adrenalin was rushing in their veins, making them capable of what they normally would not be capable of. At this point Jaemin couldn’t control the others fear nor suppress it; his mind was a horrible mess of terror and anxiety, making his own fear even larger. 

Multiple gunshots followed, aiming at them. Jeno managed to turn around gracefully and send some of the men on the sides, falling unconscious, as well as destroying the bullets. However, seeing the number of armed men after them, he understood he wouldn’t be able to neutralize them without risking someone being hurt or shot dead. He ran back, reaching Jaemin who had waited for him, a terrified look on his face. 

 _Are we going to make it,_ Jaemin’s tone was pleading, asking this to reassure his own heart.  
_We have to_ , Jeno seemed more determined than his soulmate, racing through the plain with agility. 

They weren’t able to count how many gunshots had been fired and had had a good five hundred meters separating them from the armed men. However, at the end of the plain, they heard Haechan scream so loud it almost made the entire scenery shake.

Jaemin and Jeno rushed to his side, eyeing how Ten had glanced at the sun-kissed male and continued to run. When they reached Haechan’s position, they understood the reason. Mark was lying on the grass, eyes opened, suffocating as blood was gushing out of his mouth and a large bruise on his torso.

He had been shot.

Haechan was by his side, holding his hand and both screaming and crying. Jaemin eyed Jeno and they both knew that Mark wouldn’t live. His bruise was too large, having touched a vital vein; he couldn’t talk anymore.

“Mark… Don’t leave me… hold onto life! Mark, I beg you,” Haechan’s tears fell on Mark’s face, and Jeno realized that the NSF men were gaining ground and would reach them in minutes. He turned to them and used his powers to fight them, sending them on the air, the trees, his power stronger because of the pain he felt of losing yet someone else.

Jaemin knew they had to move fast. Mark’s injury was deadly, but he would take days to die without any move. Haechan had put his head on the male’s chest, blood tainting his face and hair. It made the brunette want to burst out in tears and beg the NSF to leave them alone and save Mark.

He knew he could do something for both Mark and Haechan; the pain of seeing his best friend suffer the death of his lover was unbearable to him. He kneeled next to Haechan and Mark’s still conscious body, putting a hand on the latter’s and trying his best to suppress the pain Mark felt. Even if he couldn’t speak, Mark still had thoughts. When entering his mind, Jaemin saw he was recalling all the moments he had spent with Haechan. The first time he saw him, how they used to bicker all the times, that day when they trained together, their first hug, their first kiss, the bloom of their love and all the little things Haechan did that made him fall in love with the sun-kissed male.

It broke the brunette’s heart, feeling in how much pain Mark was and how he loathed not being able to tell anything to Haechan. Jaemin grabbed Haechan’s hand and decided to use his power as a medium for the two to talk. When he heard his lover talk to him through his mind, Haechan burst into tears again, kissing Mark’s face and holding onto his hand strongly.

Jaemin turned his head to see Jeno fighting their pursuers, his powers multiplied by a hundred as he easily pushed them away with a move of his hand. The brunette saw how many they were, maybe a hundred, and saw another group running to them, not wearing any weapons. Beings with superpowers. Jeno could easily beat humans but he wouldn’t survive fighting dozens of supernatural beings.

Turning back to the heartbreaking scene in front of him, Jaemin heard how Mark and Haechan were uttering each other love words, Haechan trying to be reassuring Mark whose pain was considerably growing despite Jaemin’s efforts to diminish it.

Blood had tainted the grass, making a puddle of the red substance around Mark, Jaemin and Haechan. It smelled terrible, exactly the smell you would imagine death had. 

“He’s in so much pain”, Jaemin whispered to Haechan, holding his bloodied hand tight. Haechan raised his eyes full of tears, knowing what Jaemin meant. They had to do something, but he couldn’t bring himself to kill his lover. He would rather die than finish Mark with his own hands. Jaemin understood and motioned Haechan to continue to talk with Mark while he’d do it. 

He tried not to peek in their conversation but could feel the extent of their love. Their auras were the brightest silver the brunette had ever seen; Mark and Haechan might have not been soulmates but their love was the most beautiful thing Jaemin had ever witnessed in his short life. Tears fell again on his face when he put his hand on Mark’s wound, sucking the life essence out of him. He had possessed this power a long time ago but had never tried it, having always refused to kill anyone. But he was not killing Mark; he was saving him from being separated from Haechan, seeing him die at the hands of the NSF and eventually dying alone in a hospital room of the facility.

Jaemin could feel Mark’s energy lower and lower as the pain also disappeared. Haechan was still telling him how he loved him, he had only loved him and would only love him, his hands interlaced with Mark’s, kissing his cheeks, lips while tears fell on his lovers face.

And then, Mark died.

When Haechan realized he wasn’t breathing, his eyes weren’t gleaming anymore and his hands had grown cold, he screamed again, a piercing, devastating scream. The amount of sadness Jaemin felt from his best friend was indescribable.

Jaemin turned to the sun-kissed male and grabbed his face to make him listen to him.

“We have to go, they’re bringing the people with powers, we won’t survive them,” Jaemin knew it was the wrong moment to tell this to Haechan but they were only a couple of minutes separating the people from reaching Jeno and therefore all of them. 

Haechan kept his glance focused on Mark’s dead body, inconsolable. He felt numb, empty and ready to die. He had nothing left. The NSF had taken everything from him.

First his freedom, then his lover.

Somehow, he decided fast. He raised his eyes to Jaemin and got up, tears rolling but a decided look on his face. Jaemin glanced at him with nervousness.

“You guys leave, I’ll take care of them,” he said with the flattest tone Jaemin had ever heard him talk. Haechan’s wittiness had disappeared; it was as if he had died with Mark. 

“No, come with us, we can’t leave without you!” Jaemin begged, grabbing his friends hands tightly. Haechan pushed him away.

“I can’t live without him,” Haechan said a heartbreaking tone. “So I’ll die with him,” he said. Jaemin didn’t even realize he was crying,

He was faced with the worst situation he had ever been in. If he decided to leave, he’d abandon Haechan to die; if he stayed, they’d probably all die at the hands of the powerful beings coming at them. He heard Haechan tell him mentally to leave, that he and Jeno had a chance to make it out alive and that he’d make sure they have one. 

“Tell our story to the world when you get out, let people know what those bastards did to Mark, to  _us_ ,” Haechan grabbed Jaemin in a tight hug, hugging his body with all his strength. Jaemin had been his best friend, the one who had always been here for him whatever had happened in the past. He’d always make Haechan feel better, make his second life easier regardless of his own hardships. He had proven it today too, killing Mark instead of asking Haechan to do it, even if Haechan knew Jaemin had promised himself he would never kill anyone.

He glanced up, sending Jaemin a smile, and then ran to the armed and terrifying supernatural beings running after them.

Jaemin turned back and screamed to Jeno to come. They would not let Haechan sacrifice himself for them for nothing. Jeno saw Haechan reaching him and running to the opponents, fearless despite the blood and the tears. He was not sure about all that happened, but when he heard Jaemin call him, he understood they’d be leaving Haechan.

He ran passed by Mark’s dead body, his heartbreaking seeing how his friend had ended, and eventually reached Jaemin’s position, grabbing his hand tightly and running to the opposite direction Haechan was. 

They didn’t talk, for Jeno understood it all without a word.

The level of tension he could feel in his lover’s hand was enough to raise his power to almighty levels.  They only had a couple of hundred meters separating them from the fence and liberty.

Jaemin tried not to listen to Haechan’s thought when he ran with Jeno, but the level of exhaustion and trauma he was in made his power unstable and very wary of anyone’s thoughts.

And suddenly, he couldn’t hear Haechan anymore.

Jaemin wanted to fall on the ground, crying, terrified and horribly pained. Haechan, his best friend, his beautiful, joyful best friend had not made it. Haechan who had always been Jaemin’s ray of light, his sun, succeeding his making his mood rise for all these years, was dead.

He felt Jeno’s grip on his hand tighten as if to give Jaemin strength. All that happened in the short span of only fifteen minutes would need years to heal, but it seemed like the two males minds were focused on the idea of surviving and getting out rather than mourning. They’d have all life to honour their friends' memory and get over their tragic deaths. But if they died here too, they would never avenge their deaths and make their stories known.

Finally, they faced the fence, the huge concrete wall separating them from freedom. It was ten meters high and all electrified. With one move of his hand, Jeno destroyed the whole electric system, nearing the source of the wall.

“Let’s go,” was the first real words he uttered Jaemin, sending him a small smile, full of mourning but of hope. With another gesture of his hand, he created a hole in the fence, showing the wild nature beyond the unit’s walls. The air that came to their faces seemed cleaner, purer.

Suddenly, they couldn’t feel their powers. They were powerless, as in caught in a shield.

A shield.

Stefen, the Absolute Stage master of shields appeared in front of him with General Houston next to him and a couple of other important people. The joy on their faces contrasted with the shock on Jaemin and Jeno’s faces. 

“We had so much hope in you,” the General spoke up after long minutes of silence where both Jeno and Jaemin had tried without success to regain their powers. Their fatigue and fear had taken a toll on the great extent of their powers

“Fuck you,” Jeno told him, wanted to go and fight him, but feeling Jeno’s hand on his wrist telling him not to do it. “We don’t belong to you,” he spat, eyeing the hole in the fence behind Stefen like a priceless treasure.

“You do belong to us and my belongings don’t leave unless I say so,” the General’s tone was way colder than what it had been the last time he had seen him.

“Then, can we please leave?” Jaemin tried, wondering if begging the general could do something for their situation. He would say yes, and let them free; just by a couple of his words, he could stop their suffering and let them be.

“No,” the word was bitter and it made the two males heart nearly stop.

“Please, we beg you. Let us leave,” Jaemin neared them, putting himself on his knees as a gesture of submission. He had nothing to lose anymore and went all out.

Stefen neared the brunette, glancing at him.

“You were so powerful, and look what you’ve become,” he heard Stefen tell him, nudging him with disgust. If Jaemin had had his powers functioning, he would have sucked his life essence in one simple move and no regrets. He got up and Stefen pushed him back to his kneeling position.

“Since you were already prepared, you’re not going to change position,” he said, a terrible smile on his face, nudging an armed man behind the raven-haired male and gesturing him something.

Jaemin turned around and saw they were bringing Jeno next to him and pushed him on his knees too. Two armed men were on their sides. 

“Death is the only punishment for deserting,” the General said, glaring at the two males. “It is such a shame, you had so much potential and you ruined it all for futile dreams,” he added. Jaemin didn’t care about his words. He didn’t care about him. All he cared for was Jeno next to him, knowing they’d kill him. Jeno didn’t deserve to die. He had done all that had been asked. He had worked so hard, he deserved to be free, to live and enjoy what life had to offer for him, 

“I beg you, kill me but don’t kill Jeno,” Jaemin didn’t realize he was crying when he said that.

General Houston laughed, nearing the two males, shaking his head repetitively, as if taking pleasure in seeing the despair in the males’ eyes.

It was over for them. They had tried to get freedom, and they’d get death instead. They had suffered for so many months, trained so hard, did what they had been told, cried themselves to sleep and spent restless nights, all for it to end like this, like animals slaughtered a couple of meters away from freedom. 

But they had known so many good moments too. Hugging each other to sleep, muttering how much they loved each other. Being made for each other, knowing what the other thought without talking or feeling the amount of love they felt for each other whenever they kissed. The months spent with Jeno had been the best moments in Jaemin’s two lives, and he’d change them for nothing in the world.

Not even for a chance to live.

For some reason, in-between the preparation of the people who’d kill them, Jaemin gathered all the energy he could to gain back the slightest part of his power. He succeeded, but felt his energy going down every second that was passing,

 _It’s going to be OK_ , Jaemin told Jeno with his power, eyeing his beautiful soulmate who turned to him. Because they were kneeling so close to each other, they could hold hands, feeling each other’s sadness, distress and love.  
_As long as we are together_ , Jeno recalled, eyeing his soulmate with a loving glance. He loved Jaemin so much it hurt his heard to even think about the number of feelings he had for the brunette.  
_They can kill us but they’d never tear us apart_ , Jaemin thought, his hand holding Jeno’s so tightly he wondered if blood still flowed in his soulmates fingers.  
_I’ll love you forever, whatever awaits us in death_ , these words were the purest, saddest words Jaemin had ever heard. But he needed to hear this now. They were made to be with each other, in life or death. Nothing would tear them apart.

“I love you, Jeno,” Jaemin muttered to Jeno, smiling to him despite the tears falling freely on his face. He made sure to get one last image of his soulmate, his beautiful face and his even more beautiful soul.

The armed men shot a bullet in Jaemin and Jeno’s skulls at that moment. They fell on the floor, dead.

________________

  

The wind of September was pretty chilly, making the teens who were going out the club wince because of the cold. School had started, and the weekend has been awaited by many to attend large scales parties to release the stress and have fun.

And Jaemin was in so much pain.

The brunette fell on the floor, pushed by one of the drunken teens that had decided to pick on him when exiting the nightclub. It was more than four in the morning now, the day would come eventually but the teen had to bear with the hits and blows from his attackers as much as he could.

“We’re going to kill you,” they kept laughing, alcohol taking over any humane intent in their bodies. They pushed the brunette again on the floor, hitting his stomach repetitively, insulting him and enjoying seeing blood fall on the floor as the teen screamed in pain.

Even if Jaemin could hear a lot of people exiting the club, probably not sober, no one seemed to hear him or come to save him. He felt like each blow he received was making him near death more and more each time, and he was incapable of getting up or fighting back. 

In hopes of someone hearing him, he let out a loud scream upon receiving yet another blow in the stomach. 

Seconds, minutes passed without anything else but pain happening. From his teary eyes, Jaemin saw one of his attackers grab a beer bottle. He didn't need to be a psychic to know how the bottle would end, breaking his skull and probably killing him in one go.

He braced himself for death.

“Get the fuck out of here,” he suddenly heard a male's voice order, cold but determined. The band that had been hitting the teen suddenly raised their eyes to the males in front of them, and after some glances between each other, ran off. They couldn’t risk the police coming and taking them away. 

Jaemin suddenly felt like he could breathe again, a blood smell entering his nostrils while he felt the hot liquid drip from his forehead. He still didn't dare to open his eyes fully, scared that it would start again if he did so. His mom would be alone if he died. He would never see his friends again and would never live his dreams if he passed out on this Saturday night. 

“Mark, call the ambulance! There’s a lot of blood,” he heard the same voice shout, very close to him. Another voice, maybe said Mark's voice promptly answered and Jaemin could hear him talk on the phone, giving out indications to what seemed to be a hospital.

Jaemin felt a hand touching his bruise and winced at the pain. He still couldn't open his eyes fully but could distinguish forms and shapes. One male was next to him, his hand a bit bloodied because of Jaemin's wounds.

“He’ll live, don’t worry too much,” he said, apparently to the boy that had stopped the attackers from killing him.

"Are you sure, Haechan?" the male's voice asked the boy next to Jaemin and he perceived him nodding.

"May I remind you Mark and I are doing a medicine degree," the tone of Haechan was sarcastic and the male he had been talking to chuckled, nearing as Jaemin could see his body approaching. 

"And may I remind you the only reason you went for medicine is to make sure no one would take Mark from you," the male laughed, helping his friend to put Jaemin's body in their car. Jaemin could feel the heat of the car's heater on his face, enjoying the feeling on his cheeks.  

The male who had saved him was still holding him, making sure he wouldn't die on them, and reached out to light up the lights of the car, while Jaemin could see from afar that said Haechan was waiting for the ambulance with the other male, Mark.

When the lights went up, Jaemin was faced with a male with black hair and the most gorgeous eyes he had ever seen.

When the lights went up, Jaemin was faced with someone he didn't know, but whom he loved dearly.

Jaemin muttered a single, unique name.

"Jeno."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so Future of our Past ends here ~~
> 
> I hope the ending is not too confusing and you can still roughly guess/imagine what went down... if you still have some issues just remember the way Jaemin died in the first chapter and tell yourself that if they had super powers, anything is possible!!!! also remember who is the only member "supposedly" who managed to escape and what his power is ... there's a lot of explanations possible!
> 
> I made it quite open and confusing on purpose because I couldn't resign myself to write a definite, happy ending... I think I like this vague ending more !!  
> don't hesitate to tell me what you thought of the ending and the fanfic as a whole, I would be so happy !!!!!  
> thank you very much for reading up to there and I hope you enjoyed my first fic as a whole! I put a lot of effort and passion in there haha 
> 
> I have another shorter and darker fic written out so I'll publish it soon ~  
> once again, thank you!!


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